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© 2024 Opportunity Internationala 501(c)3 nonprofit. EIN: 540907624.

Good Gardening with One Hen

By Opportunity International

The following post was published on the “Stories of Service” blog, written by staff of United We Serve, a nationwide initiative encouraging social service. With the upcoming release of Katie Smith Milway’s book The Good Garden, the One Hen iniative is bringing the lessons of sustainable agriculture and food security to children through two new national service projects. Visit the “Stories of Service” blog…    

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One Hen, Inc. is an innovative organization that helps children to become global citizens by equipping teachers with interactive resources that teach elementary school children about world issues and how they can make a difference. This summer, One Hen is teaming up with United We Serve: Let’s Read. Let’s Move. to encourage summer reading and take on the problem of access to healthy and affordable food!   

Since the fall of 2009, the first enrichment program, One Hen: Microfinance for Kids, which introduces children to microfinance and entrepreneurship, has directly reached over 9,500 children via school and club programs across America, Canada, Ghana, and the U.K. Through the interactive website, educators in all 50 states and 131 countries have accessed One Hen’s online lessons and games.   

Drawing on this success, a second One Hen enrichment program is set to launch in the fall with the release of The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough, a true story about a farmer in rural Honduras.   

The Good Garden program introduces the concept of food security, the challenges of rural entrepreneurs – small farmers – and steps one person, adult or child, can take to help combat global food crisis.   

Going along with the launch of the latest Good Garden curriculum and website thegoodgarden.org, One Hen is starting two new national service projects. First, One Hen is encouraging students to build or adopt a community garden using the creative example of the Sidwell Friends School:   

The Good Garden, the new book from Katie Smith Milway about food security and sustainable agriculture, is due for release in fall 2010.

For over 25 years, students at Sidwell have been working together to provide food for the local soup kitchen Martha’s Table. Every Wednesday, students in one grade bring in a vegetable and students in an older grade chop them up. According to Richard Lodish who helped pioneer the program, “What was once Wednesday came to be known as Soup Day.” Richard believes the program emphasizes the need to start early, involve students, parents, teachers, administrators side by side doing community service. He said “Soup Days” help service for children to “go beyond sporadic and short-lived programs and to become a habit of involvement–an ongoing and encompassing involvement, where the gift of food can involve family to family involvement, too.”   

One Hen’s second service project will launch in September. The National Good Garden Food Drive, intends to help children across America to understand the issues of food security in their own community and in the world so they will be inspired to help make a difference.   

One Hen is also encouraging kids to read this summer! In support of United We Serve: Let’s Read. Let’s Move., One Hen introduced the One Hen book club to its expanding network of educators this summer and provided a toolkit for tips on starting a book club.   

Take a look at the list of five must-read books One Hen recommends and find out how you can get involved in the Good Garden Food Drive.

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