October Public Meeting Recap & Thanks

Thank you to everyone who turned out for a hot Saturday meeting and weathered the broken air conditioner to hear Nora Dvosin (Westminster Elementary School) & Fred Eric (Eagle Rock Elementary School) talk about the journey from seed to plate, gardening with kids.

Master gardener Nora Dvosin shared the inspirational story of transforming a former asphalt campus into a green campus.  She shared the plans drawn by an architect friend that helped promote the garden project at Westminster.  The drawings were helpful in creating the vision, generating excitement and presenting the projects for grants.  The encouraging news is Nora found that money to fund a garden was relatively easy to acquire.  Check out Westminster Elementary School’s webpage for more pictures of the garden now six years old and the Kindergarten Wee Garden.

Vivian Miller

Vivian Miller shared what el Rio has been doing since our June public meeting:  the Waldorf Education for Public School Teachers at Ocean Charter (two attendees were in the house), collaborations with Community Health Action Network (CHAN) and TreePeople, to name a few.  Vivian also put out an APB for Web Help to assist with our website while our web guru Jennifer Patton is on maternity leave.  Please email el Rio if you’d like to help.

Julia Posey, Fred Eric & Nora Dvosin

Fred Eric, restauranteur of Tiara Cafe and Fred 62, shared a valuable tip that kids will eat vegetables when paired with butter.  He also talked about the importance of kids completing tactile projects whether it be nurturing a plant to grow or learning how to bake cupcakes.  The act of doing builds self-awareness and self-esteem, collaborative skills and the joy of sharing.

A big thanks to Nora & Fred for sharing their time and wisdom.  And a huge thanks to the Audubon Center at Debs Park for donating the use of their meeting room.

The el Rio tote bag debuted with a welcome response.  $180 were generated in tote bag sales.  If would like to purchase an el Rio Think + Play + Do tote bag, please email us and/or show up to the next Parents of el Rio play date on Saturday, October 9th, 11AM-1PM at La Tierra de la Culebra Art Park, located at 240 South Avenue 57 in Highland Park. We’ll have bags available for purchase.