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Enhancements at the Roosevelt Community Garden
Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grant We are incredibly grateful to the Whole Kids Foundation for their generous $3,000 donation to support our efforts at the Roosevelt Community Garden. This funding has allowed us to create a sensory and vegetable gardening area for children ages 2-11, where they can plant, explore and pick freely. This new area features child-sized raised beds for easy access to plants, along with gardening tools and toys and materials for educational programs and other gardening resources. Next spring, we look forward to enhancing this area with native plants that offer different textures, colors and scents, further engaging children in the garden. The enthusiasm we’ve witnessed from the kids is inspiring. Thank you again to the Whole Kids Foundation for supporting our mission to cultivate the next generation of gardeners! NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets Grant With the support of a $13,000 grant from NYS Ag and Markets Program, we purchased solar-powered equipment for the Roosevelt Community Garden. The solar-powered lighting extends our operational hours from 6 am to 9 pm, while a solar generator allows us to expand our programming and power electronic devices like gardening tools, cell phones and audio-visual equipment for workshops. This addition significantly enhances the garden, creating a more welcoming atmosphere for all visitors. Families can now gather for evening activities, such as our recent multicultural potluck supper on September 21st. This initiative reflects our commitment to fostering a vibrant, safe and inclusive community space where everyone can connect with nature and one another. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who contributed to this project, ensuring that our garden continues to thrive as a central hub for learning and collaboration.
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Expanded Programming at the Roosevelt Community Garden
Roosevelt Community Garden Back to School Wellness Nature Walk On September 12th, the Land Alliance hosted a successful Back to School Wellness Nature Walk in partnership with Dr. Suanne Kowal-Connelly, MD, FAAP, Director of Pediatric Clinical Quality at Harmony Healthcare LI. Twenty attendees, including 10 enthusiastic youth from the Roosevelt and Freeport areas, gathered at the Norman J. Levy Preserve. Led by dedicated Land Alliance volunteers Wendy and Peter Martin, participants explored the trails, learning about various plants and wildlife, along with the benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. On November 16th, we will host a wellness event at the Roosevelt Public Library. This event will equip parents with practical solutions for a healthier lifestyle as the holiday season approaches. Attendees can look forward to a panel discussion led by nutrition and health experts, as well as engaging in cooking and planting activities for kids. The primary goal of these events is to engage more youth in outdoor activities while highlighting the importance of healthy eating, staying active and understanding the value of a healthy lifestyle for overall well-being.
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Growing Healthy Communities Through Food and Gardening
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County (CCE-Nassau) and the Land Alliance have teamed up to provide health and wellness programs in partnership with the Land Alliance Roosevelt Community Garden. “We are really excited about this partnership. There is a mountain of research supporting the positive impact that community gardens can have on health and well-being,” says Gregory Sandor, Executive Director of CCE-Nassau. In fact, several studies have shown that engaging with community gardens increases the availability and overall consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables among participants. CCE-Nassau’s Master Gardener, Audrey Thomas, of Roosevelt elaborates, “If you want to eat healthy, you should know the benefits of having fresh vegetables and know how to grow them.” When paired with nutrition education and programming, the impact increases dramatically. Beth Labelson, Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Educator with CCE-Nassau explains, “We see real behavior change among participants in our health and wellness programs. Not only does fruit and vegetable consumption increase among participants, but we also see improved healthy food choices, a willingness to try new foods and an improved awareness about the connections between good health and food.” Teen wellness program in Roosevelt Community Garden called Fuel for Success led by medical students from Hofstra University To this end, CCE-Nassau and the Land Alliance launched a teen wellness program in Roosevelt Community Garden called Fuel for Success. CCE-Nassau’s summer interns, pre-med students from Hofstra University, designed and developed a curriculum geared towards nutrition and fitness as a foundation for health. The students not only engaged participants in fun activities but also incorporated the garden in a recipe demonstration and tasting. “We cannot overstate the impact that community garden-based programs can have on obesity prevention among kids,” continues Labelson. “As we move into the winter months, we hope the partnership will shift to indoor spaces so we don’t lose the momentum we have created.” In fact, the partnership will move indoors to Roosevelt Public Library in October with the launch of Dining With Diabetes. This program pairs education about diabetes self-management with hands-on cooking demonstrations and recipe tasting. The incorporation of culinary skills and recipe tasting into the series has shown an impact beyond that of traditional diabetes education programs. Furthermore, information about participating in community and/or home gardening is woven into the fabric of the curriculum. Conserving our land and connecting people to it is fundamental in supporting the health and well-being of our communities. The interconnection among creating sustainable food systems, promoting land conservation, being stewards of the environment and using nature as an intervention strategy is increasingly being recognized as vital to improving social, emotional, and physical health and well-being. Dining with Diabetes Program in Partnership with CCE-Nassau, Roosevelt Public Library, Roosevelt PTSARecipe Tastings and Vegetable giveawayCooking Demonstrations
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6th Annual Earth Day at the Roosevelt Community Garden
Nearly 100 volunteers gathered at the Roosevelt Community Garden on Saturday, April 22nd to take part in our 6th Annual Earth Day event. We want to express our sincere thanks to all those who joined us in this year’s celebration. Your involvement had a remarkable effect on our community garden and surroundings, and it helped us prepare for our annual planting day in May. We are grateful for Senator Kevin Thomas’s presence at our garden and his willingness to learn more about us.
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Season Five at Our Community Garden Wrapped Up
Our Roosevelt Community Garden in the Town of Hempstead is gaining momentum and receiving much deserved attention since its inception in 2018. The Garden has become an avenue for adults and children to work together to grow fresh wholesome food while learning about agriculture, biodiversity and appreciation of the outdoors. The lessons of the Garden also deepen the connection between protecting our land, air and water and our health. With the help of our partners, each year we provide a series of educational programs and activities for seasonal gardeners and all residents in the County. Here’s a summary of our 2022 activities: Educational Programs Our monthly gardening workshops, facilitated by Master Gardeners from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County, provided information to those interested in gardening, horticulture and related topics. We hosted seven workshops, which included a square foot gardening demonstration, succession planting talk and Garden to Table: How to Prepare to Grow presentation. Our aim was to support gardeners by teaching them how to start and maintain a vegetable garden in small spaces, care for their crops and soil and get more produce throughout the season. Family and Community Engagement This year, 41 families secured a raised garden plot for the 2022 gardening season, of which 10 were new. We kick-started the season with our annual Earth Day program. It was attended by more than 80 participants who took action to help their environment. During the summer we hosted Paint Night in the Garden to get more people outdoors and reduce stress, followed by our fall Dinner in the Open Air to celebrate another successful growing season. Young Explorers Program This season, more than 50 young botanists and future conservation stewards from Roosevelt and surrounding communities visited the Garden to do more than grow flowers, vegetables and herbs. The Land Alliance Young Explorers program provides a pathway for children, ages 4-17, and their families to engage with nature, learn about wildlife and the ecosystems they need to survive as well as how to improve their own health. We also had the pleasure of hosting students from the Roosevelt Prevention Coalition. They visited the Garden each month to connect with nature and find ways to cope with stress. Community service opportunities were also available for high school students. We hope to see many of these students and their families again next year so we can continue to cultivate a love of nature. Volunteers Engagement and commitment from volunteers is vital to the sustainability of the Garden. We are so grateful to all our volunteers for their immeasurably valuable work including leading educational programs, planting and harvesting crops, weeding, spreading woodchips and organizing social events. Our achievements have been made possible thanks to the many partners who have helped us over the last five years: Cornell Cooperative Extension – Nassau County Master Gardeners Roosevelt Public Library Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock Social Justice Committee One World Girl, Inc Hofstra University Department of Geology, Environment and Sustainability Bank of America Associates in Nassau County Girl Scout Troop #4703 Volunteers for Wildlife Roosevelt Prevention Coalition sponsored by Family and Children’s Services We welcome new partners from schools, civic organizations and local businesses. For more information, please contact Andrea Millwood at [email protected] or 516-922-1028.
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