Courtesy photo.
VENTURA COUNTY — Students for Eco-Education & Agriculture (SEEAG) is holding a live online auction March 25 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. to raise money for a Farm Fresh Mobile Classroom van. An online silent auction will take place March 23 to March 25.
Items to be auctioned include farm-to-table dinners, golf outings, restaurant and winery gift cards, bed and breakfast stays and gift baskets.
The new van will be used to help spread the word to young students about eating healthy and staying active as part of SEEAG’s Child Wellness Initiative. SEEAG staff travel to schools in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in SEEAG’s current 30-foot cargo van. Through interactive programs, young students learn how to incorporate healthy living practices, good nutrition and exercise into their daily activities. Students prepare healthy snacks using locally grown crops and take home recipe cards and nutrition information to share with their families.
“The Child Wellness Initiative began in 2017 in Ventura County,” says Mary Maranville, SEEAG founder and CEO. “More than 60 schools and 8,000 students participate each year. We now are in Santa Barbara County. We need a second van so we can reach students in both counties as schools resume to in-person learning.” Programs are currently conducted by Zoom.
The live auction takes place on National Ag Day. “It’s the ideal day to recognize our local farmers and ensure that our youngest generation understands the importance of eating healthy,” says Maranville.
Auctioneer Pete Melero will conduct the live auction. Donations for the silent and live auctions are being accepted. Silent auction sign-ups are free. Live auction participation is $50 and includes a bottle of wine delivered to the ticketholder’s location (must be age 21 or older). To sign up to participate for the silent and live auctions or to make an auction item donation, go to https://www.seeag.org/liveauction
About SEEAG — Founded in 2008, Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG) is a nonprofit organization that aims to help young students understand the origins of their food by bridging the gap between agriculture and consumption through its agricultural education programming. SEEAG’s “The Farm Lab” program based in Ventura County teaches schoolchildren about the origins of their food and the importance of local farmland by providing schools with classroom agricultural education and free field trips to farms. Through this and other SEEAG programs, over 60,000 elementary school students in Central and Southern California have increased their understanding of the food journey. For more information, visit www.seeag.org or email Mary Maranville at mary@seeag.org