LIVERMORE — On Monday, May 18th at 3:30 p.m., students from Spruce Mountain High, Livermore Elementary, and UMF will be partnering with teachers, employees, and LearningWorks Americorps volunteers to break ground on a new community garden that will be located at the Livermore Elementary School.

This garden will be used as a teaching tool and become part of the 21st Century Spruce Mountain Afterschool Program at LES led by Amy Gatchell. The produce that the students raise will be donated to the Eagle Food Pantry located within the school and will also be used to make healthy snacks for the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) after school program.

Unfortunately, some students in this area lack food security. Teaching students how to grow their own food will give them important life skills and will also help them to be more food secure in the future.

Teaching students about healthy snacking options will reinforce the value of the garden and the students’ hard work while modeling nutritious eating habits. This will help reinforce what students are already learning in the district about the 5210 healthy living initiative, which promotes the idea that each day, in order to stay healthy, we are supposed to have:

5-5 fruits and veggies

2-2 hours or less of screen time

1-1hour of physical activity

0-0 sugary drinks

Students will learn to support their community by stocking the shelves of the Eagle Food Pantry with some of the fresh produce that they grow. The garden will be maintained by volunteers throughout the summer.

Any community members who are interested in helping out in the garden are encouraged to contact Aimee DeGroat at [email protected]. Other than labor, the needs for the groundbreaking are manure and rototilling.