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Food ED Launch Campaign

Launching new STEAM edible education gardens to collaborate, innovate, & educate LA communities on healthy living and entrepreneurship.

$10,910
pledged of$55,000 goal
53
0Days Left

Project Description

2020 has been a challenging year, but a rebirth of gardening and food creativity is occurring. Food ED recognizes now more than ever we need to empower our communities to grow, learn, prepare, and sustain themselves where food and gardening are concerned. We collaborate with communities and schools to build and sustain vegetable and pollinator gardens, providing educational experiences and curriculum to build life long health and wellness. Our model champions STEAM outdoor education and innovative garden spaces often abandoned on LA campuses and community gardens. We bring a holistic lens on the food system from pollinators to compost and partner with students of all ages to help them lead healthier lives.  

Kristin Ritzau, Founder and Executive Director, & Giangelo Leos, Education Program Director, are uniquely qualified, ready, and willing to transform the arena of edible education. They have dedicated their lives to understanding the natural world and food systems in the US and are now ready to put roots down in their home community.  Together they are an amazing team already having helped found and launch the award-winning Monrovia Community Garden.

After Kristin launched Food ED in summer of 2020, Food ED now finds schools reaching out more and more. In the last four months alone, five schools have asked us to partner with them on garden curriculum and builds.  This area of LA is often neglected when it comes to garden and food education awareness. We desire to use gardens and our curriculum to help communities understand gardens can be so much more than spaces to just grow food. Collaborating with passionate educators, we are able to demonstrate gardens are tools to teach growth mindset, perseverance and wellbeing alongside Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

Our curriculum features:

  • Grade specific Next Generation Science Standard lessons
  • The latest scientific based research and hands-on learning
  • Original arts and crafts and science experiments done safer-at-home or at school
  • Food science and healthy living supplements

Our gardens showcase the latest in different growing methods, solar energy, and water collection in order to inspire the next generation of earth stewards and entrepreneurs. We are partnering with multiple schools in Monrovia Unified School District and others in the San Gabriel Valley.  We are building a pollinator garden outdoor space at Santa Fe Computer Magnet School. Plymouth Elementary is partnering with us on a number of projects including sensory garden and vegetable garden projects. Bradoaks and Monroe Elementary Schools are featuring our curriculum and we are helping with Bradoaks' Edible Education Garden revitalization too.  Together we are establishing spaces that will enrich the students' lives, but also the community-at-large. These spaces will inspire innovation and collaboration as it will help us further our world-class curriculum as well as be a model to surrounding areas of what outdoor learning can look like. 

 

Food ED difference:

  • Raised vegetable beds with irrigation
  • ADA raised beds for differently abled students
  • Pollinator gardens showcasing whole ecosystem health
  • Cooking and Food Science demonstrations
  • Composting systems and worm bins
  • Outdoor classroom and STEAM experiment space
  • Hydroponic features
  • Water magnet play boards
  • Solar-powered generators
  • Weather stations
  • Reclaimed and recycled growing features
  • Trees for additional shade

We are on the runway, but with your help, we can takeoff! The funding will help our educational curriculum development and current garden projects that are not fully funded in this first year of operation. By supporting staff and helping fund us as we develop our gardens with the features above, you are helping kids in the San Gabriel Valley learn about health and wellness, their environment, and how this type of science is useful to them for the duration of their lives. With your help, students will have access to these amazing spaces unparalleled in the San Gabriel Valley that will inspire, challenge and assist them in a life-long journey of health, wellness, and innovation. 

Thank you for joining us in this adventure! You truly are our partners in this work. 

The Campaign FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions:

What does Food ED do? 

Our mission is to collaborate, innovate, and educate alongside schools and cities on issues of garden and food science. We build and sustain all types of gardens that contribute to STEM education and the food web: Community Gardens, Native Gardens, Pollinator Gardens, and Vegetable Gardens. Our goal is to not just build and leave, but maintain and provide curriculum and education opportunities for health, wellness, and ecojustice in the communities where we work. 

Where does Food ED work? 

Our focus is growing sustainably in North East Los Angeles County. Our primary area of work is in the San Gabriel Valley. We are open to discussing remote consultations with other areas. 

Are you a nonprofit? 

Yes! We are registered with the IRS and recognized as an official 501c3 with all donations being tax deductible. 

When will I receive my reward? 

Rewards will be sent at the end of the campaign or set-up through us (landscape plan, dinner plan). If you need something sooner, let us know. Also the veggie starter pack will be best suited to February/March planting. 

Can I volunteer? 

We have a few volunteer opportunities coming up and will be reaching out more to our "home team" - which is a group of dedicated people supporting our mission. Reach out to us at krisritzau@explorefooded to join the Home Team. We are also open to partnerships and gift-in-kind donations for our garden projects. 

For other inquiries, visit our website: explorefooded.org

 

 

 

02/02/2021
Come to our Ribbon Cutting Party!
$100
Shannon Leith
02/02/2021
Breakfast Cookbook
$55
Amy Robb
01/27/2021
Breakfast Cookbook
$55
01/22/2021
Monetary Contribution
$50
Darcy Ritzau
01/21/2021
Come to our Ribbon Cutting Party!
$100
Erin Cox
01/01/2021
Food ED Apolis Bag
$250
EG
12/31/2020
Starter Garden Pack
$500
Donna L. Baker
12/31/2020
Personal Landscape/Garden Consult Plan
$1,000
Edward Belden
12/31/2020
Endless Gratitude
$25
Sylvia
12/31/2020
Endless Gratitude
$25
Monetary Contribution

Just Because I Care

7 Supporters
Select this reward
25.00 USD
Endless Gratitude

Every seed of support will go a long way and we will write you a personal thank you note for our endless gratitude! 

16 Supporters
Select this reward
55.00 USD
Breakfast Cookbook

Sprout level: We are excited for every sprout that emerges! You will receive a copy of Buenos Dias: A Breakfast Cookbook For Kids, a special collaboration written by Nicole Ramos for Food ED's launch. 

10 Supporters
Select this reward
250.00 USD
Food ED Apolis Bag

Flower Level: Every flower is vital to our survival. You will be sent a Special Edition Apolis Bag with "Food Exploration & Discovery" on it and invitation to Flagship Ribbon Cutting.

26 Left
4 Supporters
Select this reward
500.00 USD
Starter Garden Pack

Fruit Level: Donors as this level will receive a garden starter pack with enough starter veggies and/or seeds for your garden and a planting calendar. Also you will receive a copy of our cookbook!

10 Left
5 Supporters
Select this reward
1,000.00 USD
Personal Landscape/Garden Consult Plan

Soil Level: For you, we will do a personalized garden consultation complete with site visit or consultation over the computer. We will assist in the design or consult of a vegetable garden, pollinator garden, or native garden and provide you with a sketch and list of plants for your garden. We can help with all aspects of your yard/garden issues. 

8 Left
1 Supporter
Select this reward
2,750.00 USD
Farm-to-Table 5-Course Dinner for 6

Gardener Level: A gardener should enjoy the fruits of the labor and at this level, you will! Farm to Table chefs will prepare a 5-course meal with wine pairings for a party of 6 at an urban homestead in LA. Great one to go in on with a group of friends!

3 Left
1 Supporter
Select this reward
7,000.00 USD
Founding Steward Circle

You will be invited into our Founding Steward Circle and we will be in touch with you about how best to thank you. 

2 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward

About the Entrepreneur

Monrovia, CA
Created 1 Campaign
Social Good

Rewards

Monetary Contribution

Just Because I Care

7 Supporters
Select this reward
25.00 USD
Endless Gratitude

Every seed of support will go a long way and we will write you a personal thank you note for our endless gratitude! 

16 Supporters
Select this reward
55.00 USD
Breakfast Cookbook

Sprout level: We are excited for every sprout that emerges! You will receive a copy of Buenos Dias: A Breakfast Cookbook For Kids, a special collaboration written by Nicole Ramos for Food ED's launch. 

10 Supporters
Select this reward
250.00 USD
Food ED Apolis Bag

Flower Level: Every flower is vital to our survival. You will be sent a Special Edition Apolis Bag with "Food Exploration & Discovery" on it and invitation to Flagship Ribbon Cutting.

26 Left
4 Supporters
Select this reward
500.00 USD
Starter Garden Pack

Fruit Level: Donors as this level will receive a garden starter pack with enough starter veggies and/or seeds for your garden and a planting calendar. Also you will receive a copy of our cookbook!

10 Left
5 Supporters
Select this reward
1,000.00 USD
Personal Landscape/Garden Consult Plan

Soil Level: For you, we will do a personalized garden consultation complete with site visit or consultation over the computer. We will assist in the design or consult of a vegetable garden, pollinator garden, or native garden and provide you with a sketch and list of plants for your garden. We can help with all aspects of your yard/garden issues. 

8 Left
1 Supporter
Select this reward
2,750.00 USD
Farm-to-Table 5-Course Dinner for 6

Gardener Level: A gardener should enjoy the fruits of the labor and at this level, you will! Farm to Table chefs will prepare a 5-course meal with wine pairings for a party of 6 at an urban homestead in LA. Great one to go in on with a group of friends!

3 Left
1 Supporter
Select this reward
7,000.00 USD
Founding Steward Circle

You will be invited into our Founding Steward Circle and we will be in touch with you about how best to thank you. 

2 Left
0 Supporters
Select this reward