Leslie's GTT Board/Staff Fundraiser

I'm in my fifth year of working for Garden To Table, and enjoy my role as the Community Outreach Director, promoting GTT through corporate, foundation, and volunteer outreach, community and fundraising events, and social media and marketing. As the Event Director for the Boulder Garden Tour, I am proud of the success in 2023, and look forward to planning the 20th Annual, so mark your calendars for June 29th, 2024! Having both of my children go through the GTT program has been a joy to be a part of. My favorite lessons are planting lettuce with 1st graders, and seeing the older kiddos identify, harvest and taste a variety of organic fruits and vegetables. I've witnessed the impact GTT has had on my own children going through the program, and see the ripple effects that it has at our 16 partnering schools serving over 5,600 students annually. It's my last year as the Lead Volunteer at the Emerald Elementary garden, having served ten years...my youngest is in her last year at elementary school!

Like last year, we have a staff and board challenge to inspire the most donations to Garden To Table through Colorado Gives Day. The total number of donors is all that counts - so please, give whatever you can. Every dollar raised goes to getting more kids in a garden in Boulder County.

By giving through Colorado Gives between November 1 - December 5th, your gift is eligible to be leveraged to raise even more money for GTT through the Colorado Gives Day incentive fund. Think a gift match - but just a little different. Colorado Gives Day has a pool of money that they divide amongst the organizations who fundraise, based on how much they fundraise through this platform. It's a great way to fundraise even more for garden curriculum at our elementary schools!

Garden To Table provides school garden management, standards-based curriculum, teacher professional development, and community support to engage all students in experiential, garden-based learning. Donate today to Garden To Table to support more kids in gardens!

Our vision is a future in which gardens are an integral part of every school community fostering connection to nature, health and wellness, academic engagement and achievement, and environmental stewardship.

In 2022/2023, we accomplished many of our goals including:

• Updated curriculum to meet new academic standards. We now provide 2-3 ready-to-teach lessons that align with BVSD academic units of study for grades PK-5
• We are halfway through our first-ever USDA Farm to School grant
• Our team, in partnership with school volunteers, maintained thriving gardens that created more opportunities than ever before for hands-on student learning. This led to a 46% increase in student garden visits from 2022!
• Our second annual Boulder Garden Tour was a great success, with over 800 participants. Thanks to our sponsors and ticket sales, GTT raised over $45,000 for our program. 
• translated all new materials into Spanish
• hosted and produced professional development for teachers who want to teach outdoors and parents who assist teachers in the gardens
• maintained 16 abundant school gardens in our 16th year of serving as Boulder County's only school garden support organization

We support parents and teachers so that these gardens are fully experienced by every child at each school -- from prepping, planting, harvesting, and winterizing gardens within school curriculum. School families harvest and take home healthy, organic produce from the gardens June-October, bringing our garden experience to their tables. We also donate excess vegetables to local food banks.

Donate today to get every child in the garden. Outdoor education, health and nutritional learning, and a connection to nature is important for all children - your donation to Garden To Table makes this experience a reality.