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“Healthy Children, Healthy Planet” Community Event set for May 21, 2011

“Healthy Children, Healthy Planet” Community Event set for May 21, 2011

-- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Riverside School, 58 Riverside Drive, Princeton, NJ--

Princeton, NJ:  On May 21, 2011, the Riverside School PTO will host its “Healthy Children, Healthy Planet 2011” community fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  HCHP will take place in and around Riverside’s acclaimed school gardens, providing a day of family fun while teaching about growing real foods, good nutrition and the benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle.  All proceeds from HCHP will be used to support the Riverside Gardens and related educational programming.

In addition to tours of Riverside’s bountiful gardens, HCHP attendees of all ages will enjoy:

·      Talks by local experts on healthy living and gardening.  Speakers will include Dorothy Mullen, Master Gardener and founder of the Suppers Programs; Fran McManus, Marketing Director, Whole Earth Center; Judith Robinson, Manager of the Princeton Farmers Market; Glenn Swann of Bamboo Ocean Taijiquan and Mike Raskys of PLAY SOCCER Nonprofit International.

·      Garden Stations. Experts (and student gardeners) will provide hands-on advice on herb gardening, composting, vermiculture (worms!), recycling, seed starting, growing trash-bag potatoes and how food choices impact behavior.

·      Plant sale. Vegetable starts and other plants grown by Riverside school gardeners will be sold.  Raised bed lawn to food kits and advice will also be available.

·      Kids Activities.  Soccer clinics by PLAY SOCCER, obstacle courses, fitness demonstrations, relay races, face painting, birdhouse making, pot painting, origami and more.   Local police, EMTs and fire trucks will display equipment, check blood pressure and provide bike registration and car seat safety checks.

·      Silent Auction/Raffle.  Dozens of items, including sports and theater tickets,

garden consultations and supplies, museum tours, vacation homes and gift certificates for local businesses will be auctioned off.  Gift baskets for kids, gardeners and sweet tooths will be raffled. All proceeds benefit the Riverside gardens and related educational programs.

·      Garden Film Festival.  Selections from the Princeton Environmental Film Festival including “And This is My Garden,” “Better Bones and Gardens,” and “Dive: Living Off of America’s Waste” will be screened.

Local sponsors of this event include the Whole Earth Center, Bent Spoon, Rambling Pines, Triangle Repro, Bryant/Van Dyck LLC, Weichert Realtors and Woodwinds Associates. 

Community supporters of this event include the Princeton School Garden Cooperative, the Suppers Programs, Sustainable Princeton, the Riverside Neighborhood Association and the Princeton Public Library.

Event Co-Chairs are Beth Behrend and Stephanie Peloso.

About the Riverside School Gardens:

Today, Riverside School is the home of the largest public school garden in New Jersey, including over a dozen “outdoor classrooms” and a vegetable garden for the benefit of our local food pantry.  Through a garden residency funded in large part by the PTO, Riverside students pre-K through grade 5 learn in the gardens on a regular basis, enjoying hands-on lessons in science, mathematics, language arts, environmental stewardship, community service and more.  Our children plant, tend, harvest and taste - experiencing real food as it grows in nature.  We also have a training program for Master Gardeners who want to start gardens in their own school districts.  We host tours and workshops for staff, parents and volunteers from all over New Jersey, helping them start up, sharing lessons, and giving members of our larger community a beautiful view of what it’s possible to do with a relatively small budget and many willing hands.

See also: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/nyregion/new-jersey/07Rgarden.html. Copies of a recent article featuring the gardens from School Leader magazine are available upon request.

Contact for additional information: Beth Behrend, HCHP Co-Chair,  at beth.behrend@gmail.com.