YOUTH EDUCATION & DIVERSITY
A Youth Education Committee formed in 2017 was later broadened and renamed Youth Education & Diversity (YE&D).
The Easterseals Early Learning Center had been in touch with SWIMGA to try and get a garden project off the ground. Easterseals serves all children including those with physical and mental challenges. Thus their raised beds are equipped to handle wheelchairs. The Easterseals garden was approved in 2020.The goal for the year was to bring the garden into a state of safety and a clean slate for planting in spring of 2021. It was overrun with weeds and over grown limbs and lacking the proper fencing for child safety.
As Easterseals has a good relationship with The Home Depot, SWIMGA reached out to them to request material donations to get this project started. They agreed to supply a number of donations and are excited about the garden’s purpose.
Planned for the site were a full sensory garden to include vegetables, as well as a pollinator garden (with a special request for sunflowers!) Weather dependent, each class was expected to get to spend time in the garden multiple times per week, helping maintain the beds, watering the plants, and finally eating the fruits of their labor. Educational programs would also be incorporated into the garden to teach the children more about the plants they were growing and why it is important.
To see current activities of the YE&D committee, go HERE.