HIFA 3rd Annual School Garden Workday Part 2

The first of two 3rd annual island-wide school garden workday events took place on October 21, 2023. And the second garden workday took place February 10th! A collaboration with Hawaiʻi Island Food Alliance (HIFA), this event is part of the Hawaiʻi Island Community Food Summit. Thanks to a partnership with the County of Hawaiʻi and funding from the USDA’s SNAP-Ed Program through the Department of Health, four schools across Hawaiʻi Island were chosen to host a school garden workday, receiving a resource stipend, provided a community guest speaker and a catered lunch for the volunteers!

This time around, Chiefess Kapiʻolani Elementary, Kua O Ka Lā PCS, Kahakai Elementary, and West Hawaiʻi Explorations Academy hosted just shy of 100 student, faculty/staff, ʻohana and community volunteers. Sweet Cane Cafe, Chef Justine Ma, Big Island Grill and Kool Runnings Catering provided ʻono provisions for the day. Guest speakers graced us with their ʻike and fun demos and activities, including: Donna Mitts, gardener extraordinaire with a hands-on seed saving activity; Chef Justine Ma, personal chef who helped us celebrate Chinese New Year with a colorful hummus cooking demo; Marielle Hampton, from CTAHR with another tasty and interactive session on garden herbs; Anissa Lucero from Māla Kaluʻulu who led students to design an agroforest!

We look forward to this annual event and already have interested schools for next year. Please email eleonor@malaai.org if your school’s garden could use some community love and has an interest in hosting!