Press Kit – Our History

1999-2004

GrowingGreat began as a demonstration garden at a single elementary school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District (MBUSD) in 1999. founded by Marika Bergsund. With a $50,000 grant from the California Department of Education, in 2001 Bergsund expanded the program to include gardens at all five MBUSD elementary schools, as well as a Farm-to-School Harvest of the Month tasting program. Aspiring to provide more direct nutrition education beyond the garden lessons, in 2002 Bergsund recruited Peggy Curry, a renowned local nutrition educator, Lori Sherman and Chris Weller to join forces to expand the GrowingGreat program. Originally focused on improving the quality of school food service, the team faced many political roadblocks and quickly recognized that they would have a greater and lasting impact by focusing on educating individuals on health and nutrition. By educating the students, parents and the community about the importance of choosing high quality foods and their associated health benefits they sought to reach the root of the issue. Together the founders developed a comprehensive, standards-based Classroom Nutrition Program for grades 3-5, which they launched in all 5 MBUSD elementary schools in 2004.

2006-2008

GrowingGreat received 501 (c)3 status in 2006 and operated entirely via volunteer support until 2008, when they hired their first full-time Executive Director. We also began expanding beyond Manhattan Beach. Food for Thought Ojai adopted our school garden curriculum for the Ojai Unified School District’s five elementary schools. Via a grant from the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, we served as consultants and curriculum experts for AINA in Schools (Actively Integrate Nutrition and Agriculture), a pilot project for the State of Hawaii Public Schools. We also replicated parts of our program in the Redondo Beach Unified School District, serving 650 students in four elementary schools and held our first major community event with 500 participants. In 2007, we expanded the volunteer based programs to four additional schools in school districts in Hawthorne, Culver City and Torrance, CA. In late 2007, The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) approached GrowingGreat to adapt our model to focus on inner city youth. In the fall of 2008, we doubled the number of students we served from 4,000 to 8,000, launching a two-year pilot in ten low-income, Title 1 elementary schools.

2009-2012

In 2009, we expanded our volunteer programs to additional schools in Culver City, LAUSD and Las Vegas, NV We collaborated with the Milagro Foundation to expand our curriculum and create a GrowingGreat Academy in three low income schools in Marin City, CA. In 2010-2011 we added volunteer-led programs at schools in Culver City, Palos Verdes, El Segundo, Santa Monica and Los Angeles. Our 5th Annual Healthy Living Festival had over 65 exhibitors, 5,000 participants and raised $40,000 in corporate sponsorships. We are currently serving over thirty schools and 16,000 students and families. We have developed a web-based training model to enhance the delivery, accessibility and scalability of our programs.