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Celebs We Dig: The EMA Gets Ready to Garden With LAUSD Kids
On Tuesday May 12th, the Environmental Media Association, along with Yes to Carrots launched their new partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District to sponsor educational gardening in several of their schools. At an event held in the new garden at Helen Bernstein High School in Hollywood, many of the EMA's celeb board members were on hand to lend a hand and to share their interest in organic gardening and its role in both education and the Los Angeles community.
Amy Smart, Lance Bass, Rosario Dawson, Maria Menounos, members of Maroon 5, and Nicole Richie were among the luminaries who didn't mind getting a little dirty at the launch event, and who will continue to work with the gardens during the upcoming school year. Said Richie on her blog following the event:
I’ve been a board member of the Environmental Media Association for four years now, and when I heard they were taking on this very powerful awareness program, I immediately wanted to help. The purpose of school is education, and to me, it doesn’t make sense to educate children in math, science, history, and literature, but not educate them in nutrition and their environment. This program will give me the opportunity to help mentor students in these very important subjects.
Although specific celebs have yet to be matched with school sites, there are currently over 500 educational gardens operating on LAUSD campuses, many of which rely on the helping hands of the parents and community to keep thriving. As an exciting off-shoot of the new partnership comes word that well-known chefs and restauranteurs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken are hoping to soon use the LAUSD gardens to source herbs and produce for use in the kitchen of their Downtown eatery Ciudad. Now this is news we can dig!
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