Lindsey's 2024 Garden to Table Fundraiser

This Fall season marks my 12th year of involvement with Garden to Table, first as a volunteer Garden Lead at my girls' school, then 6+ years as Program Director, and I'm now wrapping up my first program year as Executive Director. I am so proud of our progress over those 12 years, and especially through the most recent school year.

In the 2023-2024 school year, for the first time in 18 years of Garden to Table programming, an increasing number of classes visited the garden for structured learning more than once per season. Our data show a 44% increase in garden visits per student over pre-pandemic numbers! 

We owe this largely to the success of our first-ever USDA Farm to School grant, which helped us update our curriculum to truly align with BVSD's academic schedules and priority standards. We also implemented a Garden Educator model for our Title I partner schools, who saw a 234% increase in garden visits!

It is clear that our Garden Educator model is the best way to get students outside for hands-on learning.  We are committed to continuing that program, and aspire to achieve true equity by eventually expanding that option to all of our partner schools. 

We need your help! The USDA grant has expired, and we need an additional $44,400 to continue to fund garden educators for our five Title I schools. 

By giving through Colorado Gives between November 1 - December 10th, your gift is eligible to be leveraged to raise even more money for GTT through the Colorado Gives Day incentive fund. Think a gift match - but just a little different. Colorado Gives Day has a pool of money that they divide amongst the organizations who fundraise, based on how much they fundraise through this platform. It's a great way to fundraise even more for garden curriculum at our elementary schools!

We also are grateful to have a lot of positive testimonials about our program: 

"This program helped me get a better understanding of how food grows" -5th grade student

"My family loved the veggies I took home after our lesson" -5th grade student 

"I can't wait to eat the salad! I'm going to try to get my family to plant our own garden. I should become a vegetarian." -3rd grade student

"The garden is a wonderful way to make so many curricular connections for kids. We use it to teach ecology, math, health, and economics." -3rd grade teacher

"My students this year have never been so engaged, excited, and ALIVE as when they're in the garden - thank you!" -Kindergarten teacher

"Nothing can replace the garden lessons to support science standards in such an authentic way. Thank you for everything. GTT is so appreciated!" -1st grade teacher

"Amazing! So grateful for the lessons, organization and teaching. You guys made this such a breeze and the kids loved it!" - 2nd grade teacher