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Testimony to the MFPC by Dr. Pothukuchi
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For Public Release on Monday, Sept. 8, 2003
Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan
Great Outdoors Leadership Grants Program
Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order, Detroit
The Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order received a grant for support for the Growing Healthy Kids urban organic garden and nutrition education program. Growing Healthy Kids will formalize and expand the current work of the Earth Works Garden, an urban agriculture project administered by the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. The project will reach children ages 6-12 and their families who live in the communities that surround the Soup Kitchen and the Iroquois Avenue Christ Lutheran Church. The church's youth-outreach organization, the Iroquois WISE Coalition, is partnering on the project. The goal of Growing Healthy Kids is to provide healthy outdoor activities for families, while teaching them about sustainable gardening and healthy nutritional practices that they can incorporate at home in their own gardens and kitchens. Participants will assist in planning the garden, propagating seedlings, planting, maintaining and harvesting crops. Families will also participate in workshops on a variety of topics, including healthy nutrition and cooking, food preservation, sustainable gardening, ecology and environmental education. Families will take home produce, recipes and gardening kits with seedlings to grow their own produce at home.