To the Editor:

I am writing to acknowledge a generous contribution made by the Church and Dwight Employee Giving Fund to the Princeton School Gardens Cooperative (PSGC). This donation will enable the PSGC to continue supporting the thriving garden education programs at the four elementary schools in the Princeton public school system.

The school gardens movement in Princeton’s public schools began as a grassroots effort almost a decade ago. The elementary school gardens are the foundation of PSGC’s vision for K-12 food education in Princeton. We would like every Princeton High School graduate to be able to be able to grow a salad, read a label, cook a meal, set a table, and understand the impact of their food choices on the world around us. Today — thanks to Church and Dwight’s contribution, the steadfast support of the individual school PTOs, school administrators, our enthusiastic teachers, and other grant-making organizations — every elementary school child in Princeton touches and is touched by the gardens.

What does this mean? Our children engage all of their senses in the school gardens. They plant seeds and bulbs, weed and turn compost, observe differences in light and temperature, hear the sounds of the insects and animals that share these spaces, taste and smell the fruits of their labor. Cooperation and patience are cultivated, too, as students work together to tend, harvest, and cook the foods they have grown. Academics are enhanced as science experiments, writing assignments, and history lessons are experienced in and through the gardens.

We are so grateful to Church and Dwight’s employees for supporting PSGC’s effort to make sustained, meaningful garden education part of every PPS student’s life.

Jennifer Jang

Princeton School Gardens Cooperative