Danbury & Bethel Students Growing Stronger (And Greener) This Summer with the YMCA & Children's Center

 

Growing healthy students

One of the many things going on in Danbury this summer is happening at the Ellsworth Garden. Part of the YMCA and Danbury Public School summer school, the program features weekly nutrition lessons - 45-minutes of exercise 2 times a week. Also there are walking trips to the Farmer's Market at Kennedy Park on Main Street where the students purchase healthy produce with provided wooden coins.

Now SCRAM

The entire program is called SCRAM, for Students Can Run and Move. Through SCRAM, the YMCA provides fitness and healthy living lessons to 290 Danbury after school students and their families during the school year, and 185 children through our summer programming.

Taking a tour

I had the chance to visit (see the accompanying photos) the Ellsworth Garden in Danbury and the slightly larger Garden Box at the YMCA Children's Center in Bethel. The harvest has begun but there are still plenty of vegetables and fruits growing. At Ellsworth the garden is nestled in a safe area where children, with the help of volunteers, including Master Gardener Barbara Meyer, can tend the plants and harvest their wide variety of treasurers. In Bethel the 13 raised planting beds include a pizza garden, all of the ingredients needed to make a pizza except the dough.

Feeding more than the body

In each case the harvests are consumed as healthy snacks by the farmer/students and the extras are sent home so the entire family can benefit. The program also uses the garden to teach nutrition, science/environment, literacy and math lessons. The Learn, Grow & Thrive garden positively affects students' dietary habits and attitudes toward healthy foods; the children enjoy eating what they grow and sharing their crops with their families.