Media Advisory: Green City Teachers To Install New School Garden

WHAT: The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society will lead more than 50 teachers in creating a school garden as part of its Green City Teachers program.

WHEN: Thursday, July 1
Speakers Short Program starts at 10 a.m.
Teachers will be working outside from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Rain or shine

WHERE: Penrose School, 2515 S. 78th St., Southwest Philadelphia, PA 19153

WHO: More than 50 educators from across Philadelphia and its suburbs including Norristown, Malvern, Horsham, and Temple University
            PHS Education Associate Director Patricia Schrieber
PHS Project Manager Sally McCabe and PHS Staff
            Principal and school gardening club leader Katherine Pendino
            Neil Brantley, Health Promotion Council
Cidney Alexander, teacher at Frankford Friends

DETAILS:  Now in its fourth year, Green City Teachers shows Philadelphia-area educators how to incorporate horticulture and environmental education into their curricula. Green City Teachers is by funded by GlaxoSmithKline, The Hamilton Family Foundation, The Lincoln Financial Foundation, and The Rosenlund Family Foundation.

The teachers and a small group of students build raised beds and plant herbs, vegetables and fruit trees in the school’s front courtyard and in front of a beautiful mural. The lumber used for the beds is recycled from down trees in Fairmount Park. The teachers will continue their learning in the school library with workshops on sustainability, community involvement, rain barrels, garden maintenance and other topics.

This workshop is one of several PHS “Gen Green” programs, including the Green City Teachers fall course, year-round work on Kids Grow Expo, a summer Youth Environmental Stewardship program, and a growing partnership with local girl scouts.

To date, Philadelphia Green has trained more than 300 teachers as part of its Green City Teachers program. Participation in the school garden workshop and PHS’s Garden Tenders program has grown due to increased interest in food gardening and increased obesity among youth. Teachers who have gone through the program say gardening teaches children how to nurture life and act more kindly to each other, and boosts confidence.

For more information about the program, please call PHS at 215-988-8800.

PHS, long considered the nation’s leading authority on urban revitalization through its acclaimed Philadelphia Green program, has been responsible for restoring hundreds of neighborhood parks, community gardens, and revitalizing acres of derelict vacant land. Today, Philadelphia Green is nurturing the next generation of environmental stewards, building partnerships and providing guidance and greening innovations to address the region’s growing needs. For more information, please visit PHSonline.org

 

 

For more information Contact:
Alan Jaffe at 215-988-8833
Laura Hoover at 215-988-8836