Disneyland takes its membership in the Anaheim community seriously and what better way to show that than to pass along the values of health and conservation to the next generation. Last year Disney VoluntEARS joined with the American Heart Association and teachers from Anaheim’s Walt Disney Elementary School to plant the first Teaching Garden in Anaheim. Now, less than five months later more than 700 students participated in the garden’s first Heart Healthy Harvest Day.
Since the initial planting, the garden, funded by the Disneyland Resort, has continued to serve as a learning laboratory where students nurture growing plants, harvest produce and, in the process, learn the value of healthy eating. Along with harvesting garden boxes during the event, students tasted new fruits and vegetables and learned about a unique form of composting that uses worms to recycle organic materials into soil. Each class also planted new vegetables for harvesting later this spring.
“The Walt Disney Elementary Teaching Garden is a unique and natural learning environment that has given our students a first-hand experience of the seed-to-table process, while providing them with invaluable insight into the importance and appreciation of nutritious and healthy eating,” said Principal Teali Fielder.
It’s great to the spirit of conservation that Walt Disney believed continued by the company’s current stewards.