On Saturday, November 8, team members across the country will unite for our annual Sprouts Day of Service. Over 50 events are planned for this year, bringing Sprouts value of caring for our community to life in a meaningful way. Projects include school garden work days, shifts packing weekend hunger backpacks, and more. The deadline to register is Sunday, October 26.
We do our best to host as many events as possible; however, not all communities have a volunteer project. In 2026, we plan to scale our capacity to host volunteer projects. This will result in more frequent volunteer projects happening in more cities. Stay tuned!
On Saturday, November 9, Team Members from across the country will unite for our annual Sprouts Day of Service. Over 50 events are planned for this year, bringing Sprouts value of caring for our community to life in a meaningful way. Projects include school garden work days, shifts packing weekend hunger backpacks, and more. The deadline to register is Sunday, October 27.
We do our best to host as many events as possible; however, not all communities have a volunteer project. In 2025, we plan to scale our capacity to host volunteer events. This will result in more frequent volunteer projects happening in more cities. Stay tuned!
States impacted by recent hurricane activity will have the opportunity to participate in future Day of Service projects scheduled for December or January. This includes Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation has made a $175,000 donation to support recovery efforts across in these communities.
This Fall, Sprouts team members have been busy, helping with school garden workdays and new school garden installations, including over 25 events that happened since September! In our sunshine states, we will be hosting a final wave of 2023 volunteer activities with our fifth annual Sprouts Day of Service, happening on November 4.
Our 2023 Sprouts Day of Service will focus on 15 events that will serve existing school and nonprofit organizations across a handful of states.
Why School Gardens? As powerful outdoor learning spaces, school gardens bring academics to life for kids with hands-on learning while also creating a connection with the natural world and healthy eating. Nationwide, Sprouts is a leader in the school garden movement, and with our in-store round up fundraising, we plan to allocate 100% of donations raised to scale this work to serve more students and schools in all our communities.
Registration will close on October 28 for the events below.
The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation is on a mission to help kids grow healthy with school gardening and cooking programs that bring nutrition education to life. To bring this vision to life, we are building 24 gardens in 24 cities in 24 hours!
Sprouts invited customers and the community to nominate a school for this special program – and the results were inspiring! Nearly 3,000 nominations were received, submitted by a wide range of teachers, parents, students and neighbors from the school’s local community.
The 24 schools below will each receive a new school garden – valued at an estimated $20,000 per garden – with help from the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation!
24 Gardens in 24 Hours Recruits Record-Setting 600+ Volunteers!
Thank you to all who signed up to volunteer for our “24 Gardens in 24 Hours” school garden workday! More than 600 volunteers registered, making this event our single largest volunteer registration, and the results were outstanding. Our school partners are sincerely grateful for your efforts and we are pleased to share that students are already using their vibrant, outdoor learning spaces!
We will be preparing a more comprehensive recap of the events – including before and after photos, a video recap and more, later this month.
Several events had to be rescheduled, due to the weather, and we appreciate everyone’s flexibility. If you had previously signed up to participate, your spot is still reserved. If you can no longer volunteer, please email volunteer@sprouts.com to release your spot for another team member.
Donations will support children’s nutrition education and school gardening programs in our communities
Resources for the Round Up for Kids Nutrition
We’re excited that Sprouts stores will be inviting customers to consider “rounding up” at the register to help raise awareness and funds for children’s nutrition, cooking and school garden programs. This is a simple no pressure option to donate with a “yes” or “no” button at the pin pad. Donations support school gardens and children’s nutrition education in your community!
To help understand the Program so you can share information with customers when asked, be sure to reference the following materials, and talk to your Store Manager!
Being involved in our communities is a cornerstone of our commitment to being a great retailer. Our Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation is one of the key ways that we bring this commitment to life.
Our mission is comprised of two parts: increasing access to fresh, healthy food in all communities and teaching kids how to make healthy food choices through hands-on cooking, gardening and educational lessons.
In this newsletter, you’ll learn about some of the most creative programs our partners are running to drive healthy eating among kids and families. While no story is alike, they all share the common goals of bringing people together, working hard, and building a neighborhood food system that benefits all.
You’ll also read about how our Foundation is driving change at the national level, by hosting a virtual school garden tour, viewed by students coast-to-coast.
There are so many exciting stories to share; this is just the beginning. We look forward to continuing to highlight more of our nonprofit champions and sharing the amazing impact they are making.
With gratitude,
Lyndsey Waugh
Executive Director
SPROUTS’ VIRTUAL SCHOOL GARDENS EVENT UNITES 30,000 STUDENTS NATIONWIDE
On April 27, more than 30,000 students and hundreds of educators tuned in for a virtual celebration of school gardens. This first-ever event, created by the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, led students on a tour of seven school garden sites, from Hawai’i to Washington, D.C., and it featured a variety of lessons that bring outdoor learning to life!
Check out what some of the attendees and educators had to say:
“This was awesome! The students really enjoyed seeing gardens from around the country and hearing from the students themselves.” – Maria Luna-Sarabia, tuned in with 32 students, Altadena Arts Magnet
“This was super inspiring! I’m the garden educator at my school and I have soooo many new ideas to try in our Garden Classroom.”– Rachel, Concordia Charter School, Inc.
The purpose of the Coast-to-Coast School Gardens Tour was to increase awareness of the key benefits of school gardens and how they contribute to students’ understanding of nutrition, environmental stewardship, science and more through hands-on conceptual learning. Since 2015, Sprouts has invested over $3 million in school garden education, including building over 120 gardens across our communities.
Visit growingschoolgardens.org to view the recorded coast-to-coast tour and to explore activities you can try in your own garden with your kids!
GOOD NEWS UPDATES: SPOTLIGHT ON OUR PARTNERS
Click on the stories below to learn more about some of our inspiring local partners!
Backyard Basecamp (Baltimore)
Connecting children and adults to outdoor learning on 10-acres of land in Northeast Baltimore
IDEAS for Us (Orlando)
Transforming front lawns into edible landscapes, building a sustainable and hyper-local food system
UT Austin (Austin)
Showing that garden-based learning leads to healthier behaviors and increased school performance
SHARE YOUR FAVORITE NEIGHBORHOOD NONPROFIT!
Each year, the Foundation awards over 120 local nonprofit organizations with grant donations to support their mission. Our Neighborhood Grant is a simple application, designed to support grassroots organizations with donations from $2,500 to $10,000.
Do you know an organization that supports healthy programming for kids or that is working to support local community gardens? We’d love to learn more!
Email us at foundation@sprouts.com with local organizations that are doing great work in your community, and we will look to see if they are a good fit for our Neighborhood Grant program!
