Project Update!

I can hardly believe that September is almost over! In regards to my timeline I have accomplished many of my tasks for the month of September. I spoke on September 10th to Leadership Worthington and Val Knapp, the youth coordinator, said she loves my idea. Because the a requirement to graduate from Leadership Worthington is community service hours she has agreed to allow me to pitch my idea to the fall class of 2006 as a service project that will count for hours for their graduation! I also spoke at the Healthy Worthington Coalition Meeting, they all think that my project will be successful and they are willing to do anything to help my project succeed! I am so excited that I have garnered the support from both of these groups because I was worried that I would not have enough support from my community. Thank goodness I was wrong!
I have tried quite a few times to contact The Ohio State University Extension Center but unfortunately have not been able to talk to the correct person there.
Dr. Byers and I have been working like crazy on our community garden and it seems like everything is coming together on that end!
There is one huge problem though with my project! I have not yet been able to think of a good name for my project! My creative juices are not working! This is a problem because I cannot do any publicity until I have a name! So please if anyone has a good idea please let me know! Because I really would like to be able to start telling everyone about my idea! But I need a name!
I will update again soon, hopefully with more good news about my project and a name for it too!

Budget and Timeline

Budget
Item Cost
Recruitment Materials 30.00
Classroom Items 70.00
Printing Costs 50.00
Food 60.00
Prizes 40.00
Plants 40.00
Other Garden Needs 30.00


Total $320.00





Timeline:
September:
1) Speak at the September 10th Leadership Worthington meeting to guarantee that they will allow my project to be partly sponsored by their organization. And also to establish them as a volunteer base.
2) Attend the September 13th Healthy Worthington Coalition Meeting and speak about my idea so I can receive feedback.
3) Contact Linda Roberts at the Worthington Public Library to see if they would allow us to use their meeting rooms for our classes.
4) Contact The Ohio State University Extension service to inquire about materials that would be useful for creating the classroom curriculum.
5) Begin working with Dr. Byers to find land for our community garden.
6) Set dates for the classes beginning in late April or March.
7) Think of a name for my organization and for the class.

October:
1) Speak with the Columbus Health Department, Children’s Hospital and Mount Carmel Hospital for more information on health education and to ask if anyone would possibly be wiling to teach a class.
2) Go to Evening Street Elementary School and speak with the fourth graders there so I can better understand their level of knowledge and how they would best like to be presented the information. Also how I can make the program fun for them.
3) Continue working with Dr. Byers on a location for the community garden.
4) Either firm up plans with the Worthington Library or attempt to find another location to hold the classes.
5) Work with the other volunteers to begin creating the curriculum for the first two classes.

November:
1) Continue working on the community garden, hopefully by this time we will have a location.
2) If I have a location for the community garden begin talking to the city about the appropriate materials we are allowed to use in the area of the town.

The Project Begins...

I know that I am somewhat behind on my project but I will definitely catch up. I am so excited about my project. I met with Dr. Sandy Byers from the Healthy Worthington Coalition. We sat down and talked about how the project I am doing will form. I have to admit that I still do not have a name for my project. I have been playing around with many options but none of them seem right so please let me know if you can think of a good title for the project that I am doing!

Vision Statement: To educate youth in our community about the importance of being healthy and to create hands on learning through building a community vegetable garden.

Need: As time progresses more and more children are becoming obese. This rising obesity in our nation is leading to many health problems. Ohio is ranked on of the fattest states in the Nation and Columbus is one of the fattest cities in the State. Schools are stretching tax dollars further then they have ever had to before and as they do that means that extra activities during the day such as gym will be cut from the schedule. I believe that if children learn young enough about healthy habits and practice them as they are growing these habits will follow them throughout their lives. These habits will help shape their lives as well as the lives of generations after them. A community garden will help children understand how food is grown which I believe will give them a greater appreciation for fruits and vegetables.

Process: My plan is to create an educational environment where children, specifically those in the fourth grade, will come to learn more about leading a healthy life. I will use my contacts through Leadership Worthington and through Thomas Worthington and Kilbourne High Schools to create a group of volunteers to help me create my classes. I will have five to seven classes and each class will be split into two thirty minute sections. The first thirty minutes will be the content part of the class followed by the application part of the lesson where we will focus on exercise. I will ask local experts such as the Family Consumer Science teacher at my school and the gym teacher at the local elementary school to teach classes. Each class will have a separate focus that fits underneath the larger idea of healthy living. I will also find land where we can grow a community garden; hopefully the garden will be located on the Stafford Village Property so that we can create a partnership between the elderly who live there and the students in the class. In theory all the food that is grown from our garden will go to the senior citizens to ease their financial burdens and allow them easy access to healthy fresh foods.

Goals: To have at least 15 students sign up for the first class. To have community garden located on the Stafford Village Property, if it is impossible for this to happen then having a garden centrally located in downtown Worthington for easy access.

Today is the last day of EPL and the first day of the start of my project. Good luck to all the other EPLers hopefully this goes well!