Dr. George Washington Carver once said, ” school gardens help make the students think…”

The 2nd motto of #Familyhood is #mobetterfood which states, “every school shall have a garden, a farmers market and a grocery store.”

1stSaturdays- the ‘official monthly volunteer/recruitment day is suggested to be held at the schools garden. During the event, updates from the schools three main membership organizations : The Student Government Association, Parent Teacher Association and Alumni are recommended in building #Familyhood at a school. While these organizations are sharing and seeking ways to collaborate, they are getting their hands dirty working in the school garden. Each of these organizations (SGA+PTA+ALUMNI) also will host a booth spaces to recruit new members/share updates/events, etc.

#Familyhood suggests schools to view their school garden in several ways when designing. For example, see the school garden as a safe place to go, a great place to read, a quiet space with nature, as an outdoors science lab, as a low-cost start-up school based enterprise.

A low-cost start up school based enterprise is the primary function of school gardens according to #Familyhood.

Since #familyhood is a community development strategy that utilizes its schools as the center for development, #Familyhood seeks ways of generating revenue through the various assets the school possesses including the school garden.

Out of the three main food related school based food enterprises, i.e. garden, farmers market and grocery store, # Familyhood promotes beginning with the school garden first and once the schools capacity grows due to the increased number of members joining the school’s three main organizations, i.e. SGA, PTA, Alumni,  later plan and operate a farmers market and lastly the Grocery store.

A little recap! FAQ

1. How does a community advance towards #Familyhood? The schools in its community implement 1stSaturdays – The Official Monthly Volunteer /Recruitment Day at Schools.
2. How does a school get started? Go to 1stSaturdays.com/start and start!
3. When does it 1stSaturdays begin? We kick off October 7th, 2017 and every 1stSaturday of the month thereafter.
4. What role do businesses play in 1stSaturdays? representatives of local businesses volunteer like everyone else and share what they do an d/or opportunities their company may have i.e internships/jobs. One of the purposes of 1stSaturday’s is to widen the pipeline between schools and local companies.