One Cool Earth looking for volunteers
–One Cool Earth, a nonprofit whose mission is to create awesome gardens that power healthy, happy and smart youth, is seeking volunteers to help expand their organization to all of the Paso Robles public schools and several Atascadero schools.
Open volunteer positions include: Garden Educator Assistant, Garden Club Supervisor, Composting Intern, Waste Audit Intern, and Garden Maintenance Volunteer. Although previous gardening experience is helpful, it is not a necessity. They will provide all training required to complete tasks. OCE is primarily grant funded, but grows its work with the help of monetary and in-kind donations. If you’d like to give back, but don’t have the time to volunteer, helping to fund the gardens may be a perfect opportunity. OCE constantly needs materials to build and maintain school gardens to be outdoor classrooms.
By creating school gardens in our community, children receive hands-on outdoor experiences allowing them to learn without textbooks, gain nutrition education which develops them to eat healthier, and bring each other together to make a difference and give space for exploration and play. One Cool Earth’s goals are creating schools gardens in the community, inspiring students and teachers to utilize outdoor classrooms for learning, and helping schools fully integrate gardens to make it a sustainable area. Schools where you will find OCE and its volunteers include: San Benito Elementary, Monterey Road Elementary, San Gabriel Elementary, Georgia Brown Elementary, Virginia Peterson Elementary, Kermit King Elementary, Winifred Pifer Elementary, Flamson Middle School, Lewis Middle School, and Liberty Continuation High School.
To support the expansion, OCE recently hired on an Americorps Fellow, Miranda Beal, who will be working with OCE over the next year to implement a volunteer infrastructure program to assist the organization. The Paso Robles Joint Unified School District and Atascadero Unified School District have both demonstrated commitment to garden-based education, with a special interest in using school gardens to enhance academics and benefit student nutrition. Both districts are exploring ways to increase the amount of local, fresh produce served in school lunches and see gardening as a successful approach to helping kids learn and to choose and consume healthy options.
Please contact Miranda Beal at [email protected] or (805) 266-5564 for more information about One Cool Earth or to donate or volunteer. For more information, visit them online at www.onecoolearth.org or “like” their page: www.facebook.com/onecoolearth.
