Together We're Growing Healthy Kids
Meet our 2021 Growing Healthy Kids suppliers whose generosity fuels our work of giving more kids access to nutritious foods and gardening education at school.
To celebrate our Growing Healthy Kids campaign and our 10th anniversary, we’re thrilled to announce that we are granting a record-breaking 1,000 garden grants, a $3 million investment, to help schools and nonprofit organizations start or expand edible learning spaces!
We received a record number of applications – more than 1,400 applications – from schools and nonprofits that want to create hands-on learning spaces that connect kids with food, spark their curiosity and support classroom curriculums. A total of 1,000 schools and nonprofit organizations will receive grants of $3,000 each this fall—the most we have ever disbursed in one year.
Outdoor and hands-on learning is engaging for children, and research — including a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin — shows that students who participate in gardening, nutrition and cooking classes eat more fruits and vegetables.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, this was an incredibly trying year for educators who were tasked with finding new ways to engage and inspire students while maintaining social distancing. Many turned to outdoor learning, and we are over the moon to be able to respond to their needs as they enhance or create new, enriching environments for students.
With these garden grants, we will also reach another milestone—since our founding 10 years ago, we have served more than 10 million children by supporting more than 12,000 schools with grants. To date, we have invested $42 million to fund:
- 7,018 edible educational garden grants to schools in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
- 6,010 salad bars in schools across the U.S. Canada and the UK
- 617 bee grants to support educational beehives at schools
- Health and wellness education that has positively impacted 22,054 teachers and school food service workers
- Scratch cooking initiatives for more than 20 school districts, impacting 137,000 children
To further celebrate our 10th anniversary, we’re kicking off our annual Growing Healthy Kids campaign online and in Whole Foods Market stores today through August 31. Several of Whole Foods Market's suppliers are adding their support to this effort and will contribute more than $1.2 million. Lead sponsors for the campaign include Horizon Organic, Rainier Fruit, Stonyfield Organic and Tom’s of Maine. Core sponsors include 88 Acres, Barbara’s Bakery, CLIF Kid, GoGo SqueeZ, Happy Family, Kettle Brand, KIND, MadeGood, Nature’s Path Envirokidz, Orgain, Organic Valley, Purely Elizabeth, RXBAR, Santa Cruz Organic, Spindrift and Stasher. Corporate sponsors include Honeywell and UNFI Corporation. One hundred percent of these contributions fuel Whole Kids Foundation’s programmatic work.
From Sept. 1 through Oct. 15, 2021, we’re accepting applications for our Bee Grant Program, created in partnership with The Bee Cause Project. Applications will also be accepted year-round for our Salad Bar Grant Program, created in partnership with Salad Bars to Schools. The next Garden Grant application window will open in February 2022.
Check out our Garden Resource Center for loads of inspiration and how-to links and read more success stories to see the many ways our grants are making a healthy difference in kids’ lives.
Explore our Kids Club which highlights cooking activities, recycled crafts, recipe ideas and book recommendations for families to enjoy at home.
