Courtesy photo.
VENTURA — For the fourth year, Gills Onions matched up to $15,000 in donations made to Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG)during SEEAG’s annual “Double Your Impact Challenge.” Fundraising efforts during the May campaign raised $15,179 with all proceeds going to SEEAG’s Youth Wellness Initiatives in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. With Gills Onions’ contribution, the initiatives received a total of $30,179.
SEEAG’s Youth Wellness Initiatives educate, inspire and empower students to eat healthy, be active and encourage participants to add locally-grown fruits and vegetables to their diets. Instructors introduce second and third graders to the “food rainbow,” made up of the different colors of fruit and vegetables and show how each color benefits specific parts of the body. Students prepare food, taste test their creations and learn how to practice mindful eating. Each participant receives a “Farm Fresh Passport” with activities, recipes and games to encourage healthy eating at home.
“We are grateful for Gills Onions’ generous support of SEEAG’s Youth Wellness Initiatives,” says Mary Maranville, SEEAG’s founder and CEO. “With its help, we were able to introduce a Wellness program to Santa Barbara County in 2021.”
In the 2022-23 school year, SEEAG reached 6,700 students at 79 schools in 21 school districts in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
“Teaching students about how produce is grown and the benefits of eating locally-produced fruits and vegetables is one way to improve the health of our kids,” says Steve Gill, Gills Onions president. “Once kids learn about the farming and harvesting process and the benefits of fresh produce, they get excited about eating a more healthy diet.”
SEEAG is currently scheduling visits to schools for the upcoming school year.
To learn more about the Wellness Initiatives, go to https://www.seeag.org/youth-wellness-initiative or contact Seth Wilmonth, SEEAG’s education program director, at seth@seeag.org, 805-585-7852.
About SEEAG — Founded in 2008, Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture (SEEAG) is a 501(c)3 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 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 100,000 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.