Gateway School was established in 1970 and for the last 29 years, it has delivered produce grown in its Life Lab Garden to a variety of agencies through its Growing for Good program. Recipients have included Second Harvest Food Bank, the Familia Center, River Street Shelter Kitchen, and this year, Grey Bears. The Growing for Good program was developed to help students understand access to food and what and how the supply chain works. Every fall as part of Gateway School’s Social Justice curriculum Kindergartners and 5th graders discuss what they are thankful for and learn about those who are less fortunate.

Gateway School’s Life Lab Garden supports a number of school events each year so in order to provide produce for the larger community, students plant extra crops. They plant, tend, harvest, and deliver the produce. This year, due to the shelter in place order, students were not able to harvest or deliver but that did not prevent Gateway from donating their garden’s bounty. With the help of Gateway’s Life Lab farm managers, Dave Gardner and Tricia Sven, Life Lab instructor Caprice Potter harvested and delivered more than 150 lbs of produce to the Grey Bears in Santa Cruz on April 1.

Gateway’s Kindergarten through Middle School students develop a strong sense of personal responsibility for the natural world and others in their community through the school’s rich Environmental Science curriculum which, like all instruction, is integrated with Gateway’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practice. Taking what they learn in the classroom into the community lets students discover and experience the difference that they can make.

To learn more about Gateway School and its award-winning Life Lab Garden, please visit www.gatewaysc.org