Help Our Gardens Grow! Vote for Explore Ecology’s School Garden Program
Explore Ecology needs your support! We’ve submitted an application to receive a grant to fund our School Gardens Program and are hoping to win either a $20,000 or $10,000 grant from Seeds of Change®, a certified organic seed and food company.
How can you help?
- From March 31 through April 18, 2016, visit the Seeds of Change Grant website and vote for Explore Ecology’s School Garden Program.
- You can vote once per day.
- Once voting closes, the 50 organizations with the most votes will move on to the final judging phase and recipients will be announced around May 3.
- Voters can also follow the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using #SeedsofChangeGrant.
![KidsWorking_SignForeground[3] - Copy](https://exploreecology.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/KidsWorking_SignForeground3-Copy.jpg)
The Grant Program aims to enhance the environmental, economic, and social well-being of gardens, farms, and communities. The grants will be awarded to organizations like Explore Ecology that help support sustainable, community-based gardening and farming programs that focus on teaching people about food and how it’s grown.
The Explore Ecology School Gardens Program provides weekly hands-on organic garden lessons to approximately 10,000 students at 30 elementary schools in Santa Barbara County.
Let’s keep our gardens healthy, alive, and growing and our kids happy! Vote for Explore Ecology’s School Gardens Program by clicking here.
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
Lindsay Johnson