Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 7, 2012

Sprout Farms Creates Educational Garden at Brooklyn High School
Sprout Farms raises community funds to build and maintain school garden in Williamsburg

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y. -- March 7, 2012. Students at The Green School: An Academy for Environmental Careers are working with Sprout Farms to plan and construct a learning lab garden to facilitate student learning and overall health on the school’s urban campus. The students, along with volunteers from New York Cares, will renovate the existing 35’ by 45’ grassy space on March 31st and April 21st, 2012 to accommodate new raised beds that will grow herbs, vegetables, flowers and berries and will have a small seating area.

Sprout Farms has been working with the Green School students since October 2011. With a grant from Citizens Committee for New York City, Sprout Farms helped the students construct a compost bin, in which food and paper scraps are currently changing into nutritious compost to use in the garden.

Sophomore at The Green School Nathan Cloud Alago said, “I joined the Garden Club as an effort to make the Green School greener. Hopefully the Garden Club and its devoted members can open a new window of opportunity for possibly even more green extracurricular activities for our school.”

Sprout Farms Co-Founder Heather McKinstry said, “We serve as a link between the classroom and the garden. Right now Sprout Farms is fundraising $7,000 for the garden’s initial construction and first season of maintenance.”

Over the course of the growing season, the garden will host community outreach days to inform local residents of the benefits of an urban garden. These benefits include increased access to healthy food, decreased storm-water run-off, increased air quality, and neighborhood beautification.

Sprout Farms works with public schools in Brooklyn to build and maintain gardens. The Green School's learning lab garden is located at Manhattan Avenue and Stagg Street Walk and is accessible to the public from sunup to sundown. For more information about Sprout Farms, or to get help starting your own school’s garden, visit sproutfarms.org.  Photographs available upon request.

Contact:

Katie Hope | Sprout Farms
sproutbrooklyn@gmail.com