Provide Helene Relief Childcare at Garden Camp

Joan Pinegar is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Asheville NC and the surrounding areas were decimated by Hurricane Helene, and our community needs emergency childcare! The Educational Garden Project LLC has started offering sliding scale/free childcare to families (no questions asked) in our community who are struggling with the aftermath of the hurricane.

We prioritize hiring folks who are highly qualified to work with children, and are using our trained and experienced staff whom we pay well above living wage and many of whom are currently out of work. In order to offer this service, we need to be able to cover the cost of staff, supplies, water and toilets so that we can continue to offer this service to the community. Any funds beyond operating costs will be donated to grassroots hurricane relief.

The Educational Garden Project is based out of Asheville, North Carolina. Our mission is to cultivate healthy communities by growing and sharing food with children and their families.

We provide Garden Camps for our community where children play, cook, and grow food together!

Here is a link to register

Our Summer and Winter camps typically cost $100 per day. We are offering these special fall camps at $75 a day or pay what you can to assist our community with child care and provide our campers with a safe environment to just be kids amongst the current chaos. Stability and nature is the most grounded thing we can offer kids.

Additional information on The Educational Garden Project

Gardens as an engagement tool

At Garden Camp we believe that play is a priority. Our staff is continuously cultivating gardens and projects to create more experiences for children to share. These gardens are the primary engagement tool for our daily activities and provide the perfect place to naturally exercise, cultivate a strong work ethic, learn how to use tools, provide food for ourselves and others, and so much more. Fresh food is paramount to a healthy lifestyle and we share our resources with all of our families!

Why we think free choice is important

More than ever, kids are being encouraged to act more like adults in school and at home. We feel that children thrive best when they are allowed to be involved in choosing what they do.

We encourage this by having lots of projects available to choose from, and giving children the autonomy to decide how to spend their day. We love to see kids enthralled with bugs on the ground or whatever it is that’s interesting them that day!

Come Grow With Us!

Everyday, we encourage kids to learn valuable skills by installing gardens, using tools, cooking food, communicating with a wide range of ages, building things or taking them apart, STEM projects, and more.

If this sounds like the break from structured learning your kids need then take a look at the programs we offer!