We are launching a new series, “Food Champions,” which will focus on a grower, a food business or an individual who is making a contribution to building a healthier, more sustainable food system on Aquidneck Island. We look forward to sharing these stories with you!
Our first food champion is Charlotte Marshall, pictured above with her husband Paul, and son Forrest, who in January became the sponsor of our school garden program at Pell Elementary. We built the garden in 2018 with support from the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, but have struggled to secure funding since then to not only offer the program, but also to make it accessible to more students, which is when Charlotte stepped in saying "I would love to help with that!"
When schools were closed in March, we didn't want the gardens to go to seed, and did want to help the faculty in their embrace of remote learning, so with Charlotte's support we were able to do the "Coronavirus Pivot" and swiftly create remote learning modules - garden lessons filmed at Pell - and garden kits to share with students at home. We also turned our garden educators into a garden crew, who worked all five North End gardens throughout the summer to produce more than 1,000 pounds of fresh vegetables that were distributed first through the Summer Meals Program at Pell, and are now delivered weekly to Donovan Manor, a senior housing complex operated by the Housing Authority of Newport.
People have been so appreciative of these contributions to their grocery budget, which ACT couldn't have made possible without Charlotte sharing our vision, seeing the need in this challenging year, and sponsoring this program.
“I’m extremely excited to have been able to help the Pell School garden program grow. It is a wonderful asset that not only educates our youth but also provides enjoyment and healthy food to our community” said Charlotte. We said "Thank you for your leadership Ms. Marshall!"
