The Power of Experiential Garden Learning with Malia Demers from FoodCorps

Malia Demers loves to talk about school gardens and their amazing positive impact on children. Her personal passion was ignited one day when she was about 6 or 7-years-old. With a friend she harvested all the carrots from the family garden without asking for permission. She and her friend were covered in dirt when they presented her mom with a huge bin of dirty carrots. Her mom was a little mad at first because it wasn't really time to harvest them yet, but she ended up laughing and having them wash all the carrots. That was a lot of work and taught her a little lesson about biting off more than you could chew! She was hooked! Malia now co-runs the Maine FoodCorps program alongside Ryan Parker helping to create sustainable school gardens that function as experiential learning classrooms. FoodCorps partners with schools and communities to nourish kids’ health, education, and sense of belonging. AmeriCorps members serve alongside educators and school nutrition leaders to provide kids with nourishing meals, food education, and culturally affirming experiences with food that celebrate and nurture the whole child. FoodCorps develops leaders, grows networks, and advocates for policy change in service of every kid’s health and wellbeing.