Gardens are powerful educational tools

Gardens are powerful educational tools, providing opportunities for children to experience the natural world as they develop strong academic skills and positive attitudes toward fresh fruits and vegetables, and learn important sociological skills that enhance the quality of their lives. Says one teacher from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Charter Elementary School in California, “Children demonstrated a better understanding of concepts and applied them in more sophisticated ways after having instruction in the garden.” The Sanders amendment funding the program was unanimously approved by the Senate, and it will now go through the conference committee process with the House of Representatives. I encourage you to contact your representatives in Washington to urge them to keep the funding for the program in the final Agriculture Appropriations bill. Please click here to send a letter in support of the funding. As you contact Congress about the bill, I recommend focusing on members of the conference committee, who are listed below. These are the members who will have the most sway over whether the funding is ultimately kept in the bill, and we anticipate that they will make their decision by the end of the September 2009. Thank you again for all of your help!

The National Gardening Association