LA Galaxy Foundation partnered with Garden School Foundation and Herbalife Nutrition to expand the garden at Annalee Avenue Elementary School on Thursday, August 8th.
Garden School Foundation (GSF), a non-profit partner of the LA Galaxy, provides Seed to Table garden-based education in Title I schools in the Los Angeles area. Their Seed to Table curriculum of gardening and nutritional cooking classes helps students understand where their food comes from, how to grow and prepare the food in efforts to promote healthy eating.
Herbalife Nutrition, whose mission is to change people lives through great nutritional products & programs to make the world healthier and happier, will collaborate with GSF in building out garden programming and nutritional lessons that will kick off at the beginning of the school year. In preparation, LA Galaxy, Herbalife Nutrition and Garden School Foundation staff volunteers spent the day building ten planter beds, painting garden signs, and placing mulch around all the planter beds. The planter beds were built with the help of ECHO Outdoor Power, who provided power tools for staff to put together these ten beds.
As the school year approaches, LA Galaxy players, Sebastian Lletget and Jonathan Dos Santos joined staff members in the garden. Lletget and Dos Santos helped plant new herbs and vegetables that would be used for cooking class in the coming weeks. The players also painted with muralist Hugo, who designed and painted a new mural that incorporated nutrition, nature and education to complete the garden space.
As a Champion Project School, Annalee Avenue Elementary will start garden programming and nutrition lessons in beginning of the school year. The LA Galaxy Champion Project strives to promote local elementary schools with soccer programming and opportunities to grow the game of soccer while promoting health, wellness and leadership development. LA Galaxy Foundation, Herbalife Nutrition and Garden School Foundation will continue to expand and renovate this garden in the coming months.
