![]() “There is a lack of good nutrition education and a high rate of obesity. “One of the things we found when we were conducting research ahead of our grant application is that Gwinnett County has a lot of food deserts,” said Charles Pace, Executive Director of GCPL. When Wilson and her team started conducting research on Tower Gardens-self-sustaining, aeroponic gardens that grow vertically using water and minerals to feed the plant-they discovered that there was much more need in the community than they had thought. ![]() (Photo Credit: Gwinnett County Public Library) These samples were used in discussions of healthy eating. Tackling Tough Issues through Gardening “A Table of Abundance” is a local branch program that provides herb samples produced by the Tower Gardens. In less than 12 months, the investment in Tower Gardens and the system-wide Homegrown Gwinnett program created a popular program that aligned the Georgia library system with unlikely community partners and further solidified the library’s role as a community catalyst. What occurred in the 12 months after Wilson heard that story still amazes staff and patrons of Gwinnett County Public Library. The resulting NPR story caught the attention of Library Branch Manager Meg Wilson, in Norcross, Georgia, who also happened to know someone in the “Tower Garden” business. It all started with the Bronx Green Machine some 800 miles away in an inner-city classroom, where a local teacher introduced Tower Gardens to his class. The Homegrown Gwinnett initiative demonstrates that our libraries can serve our communities beyond books.” – Meg Wilson, Norcross Branch Manager, Gwinnet County Public Library Recipient: Gwinnett County Public Library “These Tower Gardens have compelled each of our 15 branches to reach out to their communities, learn what their communities need, and through gardening and the resulting produce, serve underrepresented populations across the country. Grant Program Name: Sparks! Ignition Grants for Libraries (Photo Credit: Gwinnett County Public Library) Project Snapshot JanuA local branch staff member waters the library’s Tower Garden, a self-sustaining, vertical, aeroponic system that has become an unlikely cornerstone of Gwinnett County Public Library’s STEM programming. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |