Thurston County Food Bank 220 Thurston Ave NE; Olympia, WA 98501-1138 Office: 360-352-8597 Fax: 360-352-7732 Striving to eliminate hunger in our community — Neighbors helping neighbors since 1972

Food Distribution Hours Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00-3:00 2nd & 4th Wednesdays 5:00 PM-7:00 PM Other places & times

• Home
• Programs
• Volunteers
• Donations
• Produce
• Special Needs
• About Us
• FAQ
• En Espaņol

School Gardens

Thurston County Food Bank School Gardens Initiative

The Thurston County Food Bank's School Gardens Initiative began in March, 2010, and serves schools in Olympia, Tumwater, North Thurston, and Griffin School Districts. This initiative was a natural progression for us--The Food Bank already had a presence in every elementary school in our service area through our FORKids program, which provides homeless and other low-income students with bags of kid-friendly food to take home over the weekend. Also, the Food Bank has benefited for many years from produce grown by local school gardens.

The School Gardens Initiative gives us an opportunity to:

• provide structural support to our community's school gardens
• encourage nutrition education
• get fresh garden-grown produce to our FORKids clients
• increase the amount of school garden produce donated to the Food Bank.

Support We Provide

School garden efforts are primarily a labor of love initiated by one or two champions at each site. These individuals offer their time and talents to their schools' garden programs because they recognize the value of garden-based education for every child. The Thurston County Food Bank strives to provide support that will help these programs remain sustainable beyond the initial burst of energy they enjoy in their early years. Some of the support we offer school gardens that share our mission to end hunger include:

• Summer garden maintenance
• Seeds and starts in spring and fall
• Consulting, technical assistance, and resource materials
• Garden based educational curriculum
• A yearly school gardeners' summit in early spring

We provide more intensive support to some of our Title One partner schools. These schools have many students on the free/reduced fee lunch program. In order to provide fresh, nutritious produce to these children, we work with the schools to design a garden program that may include:

• Delivery of mini-CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) boxes to students in our FORKids program
• A farmstand, where students can "buy" locally-grown, organic produce
• Cooking demonstrations for students and their families
• Garden education programs
• funding

Our School Garden Partners

We currently work with about 15 school gardens in the Olympia, North Thurston, and Tumwater school districts. A map of our school garden partners is coming soon.

Get Involved!

If you are affiliated with a Thurston County school that has a garden or would like to develop one, and would like to partner with the Thurston County Food Bank, or if you are a community member interested in volunteering with some of our school garden programs, please contact our School Gardens Coordinator by clicking here.