For KEEPS Kids Reap Fruits and Vegetables of their Labor

Children in the Saint Peter’s Healthcare System’s For KEEPS program for youth are harvesting the fruits of their labor from a garden plot funded in part by Whole Kids Foundation’s School Garden Grant Program, which was created in partnership with FoodCorps to help schools grow students’ relationships with food through gardening.

Whole Kids provided a $2,000 grant to help fund the project.

The Foundation has extended $3 million in grant funds to more than 1,500 schools and garden-related nonprofits throughout the country, which will support a broad range of projects including raised bed garden construction, vertical gardens and larger-scale expansions in schools, outdoor classroom projects, composting and rainwater collection.

In addition to funding, each grant recipient will receive a starter set of seeds from High Mowing Organics and access to the Foundation’s online School Garden Resource Center, which provides guidance on how to build and sustain gardens to ensure long-term success.

“We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for the School Garden Grant Program,” says Nona Evans, executive director of Whole Kids Foundation. “It is so inspiring to see the diversity and creativity in the types of gardens that will be planted across the country and the interaction between the students and their communities.”

The For KEEPS program (Kids Embraced and Empowered through Psychological Services) part of The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital, is an acute partial-hospitalization short-term-stay unit for children ages 5 to 17. The program operates year-round.