AUSTIN, Texas, April 13, 2023 — Partners for Education, Agriculture and Sustainability (PEAS) in Austin and Sunfield Elementary School in Buda are expanding hands-on nutrition education with a $2,500 grant from the American Heart Association’s Teaching Gardens® Network Grant program, helping address healthy eating challenges facing children and families. Access to healthy foods directly impacts a person’s health over their lifetime, but most children are not eating recommended amounts of fruits or vegetables, consuming less than one serving of each per day.[1]
Including this award, the American Heart Association, a global force for healthier lives for all, with support from CAULIPOWER, makers of ready-to-use veggie-powered food items, has now funded 150 grants over three years to schools and community gardens nationwide. The financial grants boost garden-based learning, helping enable equitable access to healthy foods and innovative nutrition education across the country.
PEAS and Sunfield Elementary will have access to the Teaching Gardens curriculum to inspire innovation and develop new strategies for improving access to healthy food for students and families. Through the Association’s Teaching Gardens Network, part of its Teaching Gardens® program, schools and community gardens turn the outdoors into a classroom with interactive nutrition curriculum to help kids make healthy food choices and build positive, lifelong nutrition habits.