2020 is a year of change for all of us.
It has inspired an opportunity to create inclusive and sustainable resources for our communities, schools and families by providing a renewed equitable lens on how and what we teach. This is the root from which we continue to grow Life Lab programs and transform the Nature of Education. Cultivating children’s love of learning, healthy foods, and nature through garden-based education.
Innovation, Partnership, & Growth
Life Lab continues to work in partnership with seven local partner schools in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District and with sister organizations across the country through our School Garden Support Network. The SGSO Network is a strong collective resource offering distance learning webinars and collaborative virtual gatherings on topics impacting outdoor educators. The expansion of our Life Lab curriculum materials is also in process which we hope to have published by Spring. Our curriculum, webinars, online resources, and workshops continue to help educators in need of engaging lessons for remote learning right now, plus much of our work meets Next Generation Science Standards and include Common Core math and language arts. We are grateful to continue providing virtual curated group workshops for outdoor education organizations such as MEarth in Carmel, CA and Terracorps in Lowell, PA. In an effort to provide more access and equity to Life Lab programs, we are very excited to share the development of a Life Lab Educator Certification Program available January, 2021.
Earlier this year we partnered with Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation to create BackPocketLearning.org designed for families and those working with children, either at home or remotely. It is full of engaging, simple activities that inspire learning and wellness in fun, easy ways. Our Life Lab blog and Youtube channel are also full of family friendly activities to keep kids learning through nature.
“Education from my experience with Life Lab at Green Acres Elementary from 1982 to 1984 has been a major influence on my life and career path. My choices to study ecology at the University of Washington (B.S. 2008), botany at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (M.S. 2012), & my current status as a PhD student at the University of Rhode Island’s Dept of Marine Affairs, are all directly attributable to exposure to your program. You taught a child from a low-income, urban family to transplant seedlings in the greenhouse, grow and harvest wheat to grind and bake into bread, and even churn butter from fresh milk. The lessons I learned at Life Lab have taken me all over the planet, and maybe they’ll help me help change it too.” Ken Hamel, April 2020
Community Cultivation
We know that garden-based learning is important to you as an active member of our community.
Like a garden, Life Lab needs pollinators to help us grow our programs. Please share our work with friends and family and donate as you are able to our Healthy Futures Garden of Giving.
All contributions are appreciated! You are a vital partner with us in building Healthy Futures for all children through your support for our current financial needs and long-term sustainability. Thank you!
Funds raised reflect individual giving, grants, sponsorships, and earned income.
If you are a Life Lab donor, please check with your workplace to see if they have a gift matching program. Many employers love to support their team’s favorite charities and will double your donation!
Does your company have a community giving program? If so, let them know about Life Lab and suggest that they support us, too! Many companies have gift or grant programs, and they often encourage employees to recommend an organization that inspires them. We can provide you with all the information you need for a nomination form. Just contact Nikki@lifelab.org.
We welcome gifts of non-cash assets, and you may find that they provide you with additional tax benefits, especially for appreciated stock and real estate. To transfer shares of securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds), provide this Life Lab account information to your brokerage:
Life Lab Science Program, care of Wells Fargo Advisors
MAC H0006-085
One North Jefferson Ave
St. Louis, MO 63103
Account # 6761-7813
DTC # 0141 800-872-3377
Honoring Life Lab’s long-term impacts for children, educators and the communities we support through a legacy gift is a wonderful way to sustain our work for many years to come. Please contact Don@lifelab.org or Judit@lifelab.org for more information and to let us know if you have already included us in your estate plans. We are also happy to discuss charitable trust opportunities with you.
Do you have friends or family members who are looking for an effective and inspiring organization to support? Or maybe you know someone who works at a foundation, or whose company donates to nonprofits each year? The more you tell people about our work growing healthy, inspired children, the better!
Do you know that your Amazon purchases can benefit a nonprofit of your choice? Just use AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com) to shop as you normally would and select Life Lab Science Program as your charitable beneficiary. Amazon will donate .5% of each of your purchase amounts to us
