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The Dinner Garden Grant

Linda F. Deneher

Boise State University: Ed Tech 551

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Abstract

The problem of hunger in America is widespread and increasing. Every day millions of people

are hungry (United States Department of Agriculture, 2006, 2009). The Dinner Garden, a

nonprofit organization in San Antonio, Texas, is dedicated to fighting hunger by providing seeds

and education to hungry families. Since 2009, 65,000 people have been provided with seeds for a

family of four and education on successful gardening both in person and online through the

Dinner Garden's website. This mission is achieved by connections with prospective grantors

(Appendix A) and the application (Appendix B) and award of grants. This grant application and

supporting documentation is submitted in consideration of an award from the Gardening

Association of America of two, $500 gift cards to garden supply stores (Gardening Association

of America, 2011). The group anticipates using the cards to provide seed packets and

supplemental information to the first 100 of the 50,000 people on their waiting list and the

purchase of an electronic weather station (Home Depot, 2011). The weather station facilitates a

standards-based (Texas Education Agency, 2011) fourth-grade lesson regarding the weather and

adaptations useful for successful gardening in San Antonio, currently experiencing an extreme

drought (National Drought Mitigation Center, 2011).

Keywords: grant, garden, drought

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The Dinner Garden Grant

History

The Dinner Garden’s mission is to reduce hunger in America. They gather and distribute

enough free seeds to provide for the needs of a family of four for one growing season. They have

given away seeds for 65,000 gardens at a cost of $1.79 per garden. Currently, there are 50,000

people on the waiting list for services, which include providing education and online resources to

gardeners. This is of particular importance because the home city of the group, San Antonio,

Texas, is experiencing drought making it even more difficult for novice gardeners to be

successful (National Drought Mitigation Center, 2011) (Appendix C).

Public awareness of the Dinner Garden is facilitated by partnership with Catholic

Charities, Seeds for Food, the Wyoming Food Bank, World Food Garden, San Antonio Food

Bank, Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Club, and the Salvation Army. Magazine articles about the

group and its mission have been published by Redbook, Family Circle, Woman's World, Urban

Farmer, and American Dog. Most recently, in 2011 CNN named the Dinner Garden's founder a

CNN Hero (CNN, 2011). A solid network of donators includes Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds,

Google, the Good People Fund, ExxonMobil, Organized Chaos, and the Cabot Cheese Co-Op

(Dinner Garden, 2011).

Needs Assessment

In 2006, 22.8 million adults and 12.6 million children lived in food insecure households.

15.6% of households with children reported food insecurity. 30% of households with children

headed by single women were food insecure, and 5.9% of households with seniors living alone, a

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total of 1.6 million, were food insecure (United States Department of Agriculture, 2009)

(Appendix D).

By 2009, numbers and all of these categories increased. 33 million adults and 17.2

million children lived in food insecure households. 21.3% of households with children reported

food insecurity. 36.6% of households headed by single women experience food insecurity. 7.8%

of households with seniors living alone experience food insecurity (United States Department of

Agriculture, 2009) (Appendix D).

The city of San Antonio, Texas, the home of the Dinner Garden, is the seventh -- largest

city in America; the metropolitan area has a population of 2 million people. Average rainfall in

the area is 30 inches per year, but Texas has been in a drought for several years. The area

surrounding San Antonio is rated as D4 Exceptional. (National Drought Mitigation Center, 2011)

(Appendix C). Yearly temperatures range from below freezing to above 100°. The lack of

rainfall and the wide range of temperatures increase the difficulty for gardeners.

Curriculum standards for the state of Texas, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills

(TEKS) for the third grade, require the presentation of information that can be readily illustrated

in the production and maintenance of a garden. For example, Science Standard (10) (A) requires

students to “explore how the structures and function of plants and animals allow them to survive

in a particular environment.” Standard (9) (C) expects students to: describe environmental

changes such as floods and droughts where some organisms thrive and others perish or moved to

new locations.” (Texas Education Agency, 2011).

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Fourth grade Science Standard (8) (A) introduces the concept of patterns in the natural

world and requires students to “measure and record changes in weather and make predictions

using weather maps weather symbols and a map key.” and be able to describe the water cycle

(Texas Education Agency, 2011. This prior assimilation of background knowledge from

mastering grade three concepts makes a lesson in gardening for fourth-graders ideal.

The growing problem of hunger in the San Antonio metropolitan area can be solved with

support for young gardeners. The Dinner Garden teaches gardeners how to create food,

facilitating self-sufficiency. These free packets and supporting education has been successfully

delivered since 2009. Due to the donation of seeds and work done by volunteers, the final price

of the seeds is only $1.79 per packet for postage. Dinner Garden is community-based and

nationwide serving gardeners in all 50 states. The approach is professional, there is an efficient

mode of distribution of seeds and education, and the director, Holly Hirschberg, has experience

teaching gardening. The Dinner Garden is a cost effective, sustainable solution to hunger.

Narrative: Goals and Objectives

Goal: Increase the ability of the Dinner Garden to provide seeds, tools, and education to

gardeners.

Objective One: To increase distribution of seed packets by mailing packets to the first 100

people on the waiting list by the start of the 2012 growing season.

There are 50,000 people on the Dinner Garden's waiting list. The first objective is to

increase the dinner Garden's distribution of seed packets by mailing them to the first hundred

people on the waiting list by the start of the 2012 growing season. This is achieved by using one

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of the grant awards, a $500 gift card from Home Depot, to purchase the seeds required for 100

packets. Included in each packet is identification of each seed and directions for planting and

growing. Gardeners are instructed to go to the Dinner Garden's website for more detailed

information including recipes.

Objective Two: After active participation in the lesson on the effects of weather on gardens, 15

students in the fourth grade will make at least five changes in the gardening practices during the

2011 -- 2012 growing season so their gardens are congruent with their desert environment.

This objective fulfills requirements for qualification of the grant offered by the National

Gardening Association's 2012 Youth Garden Grants. The gift card from Home Depot will be

used to purchase in the luck trying to a weather station (Appendix E) used in the presentation of

this lesson. The drought in San Antonio has added to the difficulty of maintaining a successful

garden in the desert. Understanding the effects of weather on a daily basis and climate as a

pattern is essential to success.

Gardening practices have a significant impact on the success, or lack thereof, on every

garden. This lesson presents several methods gardeners can use to save water and reduce soil

temperature. Providing a greater understanding of the weather and ways to mitigate it facilitates

yield, thereby reducing hunger.

Method

The first objective is achieved by taking the gift card award to Home Depot and using it

to purchase packages of seeds. The Dinner Garden produces their seed packets by assembling

and re-labeling seeds from larger packets. Excel spreadsheets are used to maintain the waiting

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list, print labels for the seed packets, and growing instructions for each variety of seed. The

group is able to provide the postage for the first 100 people on the mailing list.

The second objective includes a lesson for fourth grade students on the effects of weather

on gardening in the San Antonio area. Discussion of the weather is facilitated by the purchase of

an electronic weather station. The weather station displays temperature, wind direction,

atmospheric pressure, and humidity. Mitigation of the effects of the weather in San Antonio is

shown to be possible when gardeners incorporate specific watering methods, soil management,

and crop selection.

Evaluation

There are two objectives in this project that require evaluation. The first objective is to

increase the Dinner Garden’s distribution of seed packets by mailing them to the first hundred

people on the waiting list by the start of the 2012 growing season. This is evaluated by recording

the number of people on the waiting list before progress towards the objective begins, and

recording it again at the completion of the project. The project is deemed 100% successful if the

total number of people on the waiting list is reduced by 100.

The second objective requiring evaluation is contained in the lesson plan, which is a

required feature in the application for this grant. The TEKS objective states, “After active

participation in a lesson on the effects of weather on gardens, 15 students in the fourth grade will

make at least five changes in the gardening practices during the 2011 -- 2012 growing season so

that gardens are congruent with their desert environment.” Fulfillment of all of the objectives

requires first, that participation is active as opposed to reluctant, there are at least 15 students in

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the fourth grade, they make at least five changes in their practices that adapt their gardens to the

desert, and that it occur during the 2011 -- 2012 growing season.

The lesson includes information on eight different ways that gardens can be adapted for

the desert environment. They are: adding trip irrigation, adding mulch, changing plant varieties

to ones requiring less water, changing the plant design to add shade, changing the garden

infrastructure to add shade, adding edible groundcover, not watering during the day in the

summer, and adding more winter harvestable plants. Student responses are evaluated using a

rubric (Appendix F).

Budget

Objective One: Mailing 100 seed packets.

Item: postage

Quantity: 100

Cost: $179.00

Total: $179.00

Objective Two: Weather lesson.

Item: The Weather Channel Professional Weather Center model WS -- 1611T WC -- IT.

Quantity: one

Cost: $109.00

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Texas state sales tax: 6.25% = $6.81

Total: $115.81

Conclusion

The negative effects of hunger in America is has a significant impact upon children,

whose nutritional needs as they grow are significant. When children go to school hungry, it

makes it more difficult for them to learn. Utilizing grant awards to teach children how to grow

their own food making it possible for them to feed themselves and their families for the rest of

their lives. Awards used to support the dinner Garden allows the group to impact hunger by

providing face-to-face education specifically oriented to gardening in the drought - impacted San

Antonio metropolitan area. The supporting documentation for grant applications is based on

content standards developed and implemented by the state of Texas and can be delivered to a

variety of public and private organizations.

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References

CNN. (2011). Free seeds help Americans get, by, live healthier. Retrieved from

www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/14/cnnheroes.hirshberg.../index.html

Dinner Garden. (2011). The Dinner Garden. Retrieved from http://www.dinnergarden.org.html

Gardening Association of America. (2011). KidsGardening: Helping young minds grow.

Retrieved from www.kidsgardening.org/grants/2012-youth-garden-grants-1

Home Depot (2011). Professional weather center. Retrieved from www.homedepot.com

National Drought Mitigation Center. (2011). Current U.S. Drought Monitor. Retrieved from

droughtmonitor.unl.edu/monitor.html

Texas Education Agency. (2011). Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Retrieved from

www.tea.state.tx.index2.aspx?id=6148

United Stated Department of Agriculture. (2006). Household food security in the United States.

Retrieved from www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR49/

United Stated Department of Agriculture. (2009). Household food security in the United States.

Retrieved from www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/err108/err108/

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Appendix A

October 20, 2011 National Gardening Association 1100 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 Dear National Gardening Association: This letter is sent to you from Linda Deneher, the Grants Director of the Dinner Garden, which is a 501(3)c nonprofit organization dedicated to providing seeds and gardening education to hungry families in America. Since 2009 the Dinner Garden, partnered with the San Antonio Food Bank, Boys and Girls Club, Girl Scouts, and the Salvation Army, provided seeds and gardening education to 65,000 people. Dinner Garden director, Holly Hirschberg, was presented with the Yellow Rose of Texas Award, and has been featured in Redbook, Family Circle, and Urban Farmer magazines. Most recently she was named a CNN Hero for her efforts to reduce hunger. We have a strong infrastructure in place ready to deliver seeds and education to our waiting list of 50,000 people. The only thing stopping us from immediately serving everyone on the waiting list is the lack of seeds. With your assistance, we can deliver seeds and education to these hungry people. Thank you very much for your consideration in this request. We are looking forward to your response. Sincerely, Linda Deneher Grants Director The Dinner Garden P.O. Box 700686 San Antonio, Texas 78270-0686 www.dinnergarden.org

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Appendix B

Contact Information

Name: Linda Deneher

E-mail: linda@email.com

Title: Grants Director

Contact Phone Number: (800) 555-1212

Contact Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 700686

San Antonio, TX 78270-0686

Organization:

Dinner Garden

www.dinnergarden.org

(800) 555-1212

Organization Mailing Address:

One Sandy Place

San Antonio, TX 78270

Shipping Address:

P.O. Box 700686

San Antonio, TX 78270-0686

Program Information Part One: Demographics

1) Start up or established?

Established Garden

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2) Does your program have a special emphasis? Please check any that apply and explain in the

Project Overview section:

Nutrition/Hunger

3) What type of organization are you?

Nonprofit Agency

4) How many children/youth from each age group will participate directly in the garden

program?

Ages 9-11 (grades 4-6): 32 (one class)

5) How many hours per week on average will a participating child/youth be involved in

gardening activities?

One hour per week per participant

6) If applicable, please indicate the number of children/youth who will benefit indirectly from

the garden program without being involved in a direct, hands-on way:

This number cannot be directly calculated. All of the siblings of the students involved in

the lesson benefit as do everyone who is a recipient of a seed packet.

7) What is the gender and cultural/ethnic makeup of the population served by your gardening

program?

Population data is not collected for people on the seat database. The students served by

the lesson are equally divided between male and female and the population is

predominantly Latino.

8) What percentage of direct participants are eligible for free/reduced cost lunch programs?

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All of the direct participants are eligible for free/reduced cost lunch programs.

Program Information Part 2: Leadership

9) List the individuals in your program's leadership team and describe each leaders experience in

gardening with kids:

Holly Hirschberg has delivered lessons to students through the Girl Scouts, Boys and

Girls Club, and the Salvation Army. She has prepared gardening information designed for

children in these programs and misinformation is also included in the seed packets.

10) Community members, organizations, and businesses that actively support your garden

program the material donations and volunteer hours:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, the Good People Fund, Exxon Mobil, Cabot Cheese Co-

Op, Organized Chaos

11) How does/will your program make a difference in your community?

The problem of hunger in America impacts the lives of millions of children. The Dinner

Garden makes a difference by reducing hunger in the metropolitan San Antonio area by

teaching families how to garden. Do the donation of seeds and volunteers’ time, the

Dinner Garden delivers seeds for a garden that will support a family of four for one

growing season for $1.79 per packet for postage. Education provided to elementary

school students facilitates positive interaction in the gardening process, which increases

the potential for successful harvests.

12) When did planning for your youth garden first begin?

2008

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13) When did children/youth first begin gardening at your site?

2009

14) How do you plan to sustain you program in the future, (e.g., ensure ongoing maintenance and

leadership; Build partnerships; find sources and/or funds for plant materials, services, tools,

etc.)?

The group has partnered with Catholic Charities, Seeds for Food, the Wyoming Food

Bank, World Food Garden, San Antonio Food Bank, Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls C., and

the Salvation Army. Magazine articles about the group and its mission has been

published by Redbook, Family Circle, Woman's World, Urban Farmer, and American

Dog. Most recently, in 2011 CNN named the Dinner Garden's founder a CNN Hero. A

solid network of donators includes Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Google, the Good

People Fund, ExxonMobil, Organized Chaos, and the Cabot Cheese Co-Op. The Dinner

Garden has the ability to make itself known to the public through publications, and has

developed a network of companies willing to donate seeds and others willing to donate

postage. This combination of public awareness and seeds will reduce hunger for everyone

served.

Appendix B: Grant Application. This grant is offered annually by the Gardening Association of

America.

Gardening Association of America. (2011). KidsGardening: Helping young minds grow.

Retrieved from www.kidsgardening.org/grants/2012-youth-garden-grants-1

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Appendix C

Appendix C: Drought Map. This map shows drought conditions for the metropolitan San Antonio

area on October 18, 2011.

National Drought Mitigation Center. (2011). Current U.S. Drought Monitor. Retrieved from

droughtmonitor.unl.edu/monitor.html.

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Appendix D

Appendix D. This chart demonstrates the increase in the number of Americans experiencing food

insecurity.

United Stated Department of Agriculture. (2006). Household food security in the United States.

Retrieved from www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR49/

United Stated Department of Agriculture. (2009). Household food security in the United States.

Retrieved from www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/err108/err108/

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Appendix E

Appendix E. Weather Station. This image and description is the Weather Station used in the

lesson that accompanies the grant project.

Home Depot (2011). Professional weather center. Retrieved from www.homedepot.com.

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Appendix F

Active Number of Students

Grade Number of Changes

Before End of 2012 Growing Season

Evaluation

1 Yes 1/15 4 7 Yes 100%

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Appendix F: Rubric. This table shows the first four rows of the rubric designed to evaluate

Objective Two.