School Garden Initiative

How do you teach the value of nature to young people who have seen too little of it?

Bring nature to them.

Over the past five years, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy's School Garden Initiative has given students at 58 Pittsburgh public schools hands-on experience in planning, growing and caring for gardens.

These gardens do more than beautify school grounds. They teach young people the value of teamwork, give them a rare sense of accomplishment, and instill in them a profound new appreciation for nature and for life.

The School Garden Initiative has been such a hands-on success that WPC now wants to carry it beyond Pittsburgh -- to other school districts in Allegheny County and schools throughout western Pennsylvania. But we can't do it without your help. Your generous gift can help to create new generations of nature stewards, all coming together to care for the earth.


I enjoy the work, but the feeling that I revisit daily as I pass my garden is pride ... It is my personal experience with this beautiful piece of the world which I will remember when I graduate this spring.

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    		•  Darnell Davis, eighth-grader
    Reizenstein Middle School


    We love our garden, we work hard in it and we use it. The children will talk about it, protect it and know that they can have a fresh tomato whenever they want. Many of them have also started their own gardens at home or feel more skilled at helping their grandparents with their gardens.

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    		•  Deb Rego, teacher
    Sterrett Elementary School


     

     


    Main Page ·  School Garden Initiative ·  Small Grants Program
    Regional Gardens ·  Green Neighborhood Initiative



    		 






      OUR MISSION
      Western Pennsylvania Conservancy's mission is to enrich the human relationship with the natural world by saving the places we care about. We accomplish our mission by:

  • Conserving the region's places of exceptional ecological, recreational and scenic value;

  • Healing degraded lands and waters;

  • Preserving Fallingwater as a symbol of human activity in harmony with nature;

  • Engaging others in cooperative partnerships to promote the linkages of ecological protection with social and economic values of communities;

  • Connecting people of all ages with the natural world through experience, education and responsible stewardship; and

  • Working with communities to enhance livability and reduce pressure on undeveloped areas.

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    Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
    Saving The Places We Care About®

    209 Fourth Avenue
    Pittsburgh, PA 15222
    412-288-2777
    Fax: 412-281-1792
    E-Mail: wpc@paconserve.org