Gardens at High Poverty Schools (various locations)

Please note: Gardening shifts are generally offered during school hours only, with periodic Saturday morning community service events.

School gardens cultivate children's love of learning, healthy food, and nature through garden-based education. Unfortunately, in our city's most under-resourced communities, families are contending with issues like homelessness, hunger and other traumatic events. Schools lack the financial and volunteer resources to maintain and sustain gardens.

We are looking for volunteers who would like to help with any aspect of supporting a school garden for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, and I mean anything. There are lots of schools that could use help with building physical infrastructure, or gardening or creating and delivering garden-based lessons for kids. But also running errands, doing computer work, writing an interactive play about worms, etc.

For those volunteers who routinely work with students, the San Diego Unified School District requires submission of a volunteer application form and proof of tuberculosis clearance. This involves a visit to a medical practitioner to complete required paperwork.