How A Mom Helped An Entire School Love Veggies

Name: Jean Marie Gunner

Mother of: Kailen (11) and Aidan (9)

Favorite Hidden Valley Ranch^® Snack: Organic Ranch^® with Broccoli

Jean Marie Gunner, A True Veggie Champion

In 2009, mother of two and veggie advocate Jean Marie Gunner worked with other local residents to launch “The Giving Garden.” Located at Union Pleasant Elementary School in Hamburg, NY, Jean wanted to provide students with the power to plant, grow and harvest vegetables as part of a hands-on educational experience. Based on her efforts to improve and educate students and the community, Gunner was selected as one of the ten Hidden Valley^® Search for Veggie Champions Contest winners.

The Giving Garden

The Giving Garden has had more than 400 Union Pleasant Elementary students ranging from kindergarten to 5th grade working in the garden throughout the 2009 growing season. There is also an affiliated garden club of Union Pleasant Elementary, which currently has 25 active members. During the summer, students and their families from the Hamburg community met weekly to water, weed and harvest the garden. In the winter, the club meets to check in on the garden and make healthy snacks together. Last November, the students harvested pumpkins from their pumpkin patch, carved open a baking pumpkin and baked the pumpkin seeds.

Hidden Valley^® Ranch dressing has been a big part of kids enjoying the veggies they’ve grown in The Giving Garden. “The kids love it,” says Jean Marie. “I’ve gone through so many bottles of it! They really, really scream for more. When parents say ‘my kids don’t eat veggies,’ they actually do. I would say 95% of kids in every class eat their veggies if they look good, they look fresh, and they’re prepared the right way.”

Making Food Fun

Before Jean Marie started the Giving Garden she and her two boys, aged 8 and 11, gardened at home as a fun way to bond and learn about healthy foods. Jean Marie believes getting kids to eat their veggies can be summarized in two words: education and communication. “When kids get to be this age, you can really just talk to them and include them in the process,” says Jean Marie, “We plant a garden together. We take care of our school-based community garden together. We go shopping together. We cook together. We prepare meals and we cook together as a family. I want them to know what they’re eating, what we’re growing together, and what we’re cooking together.”

Right now, The Giving Garden is too small to feed the 900 students at Union Pleasant, but Jean Marie hopes that her veggie awareness campaign will help change the lunch menu to incorporate more produce from local farmers. The students have been her biggest advocates. For instance, after spending an afternoon in the garden, a third grade girl ran up to Gunner, and beamed, “See, food is fun!” These are the moments when Jean Marie knows she’s doing the right thing. She wants the students to see that good, nutritious, healthy food comes from the earth and that growing it can be just as fun as eating it!