Students from Waldo Burton Memorial School Join Longue Vue to Sell Produce to Benefit Local Nonprofit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Jennifer Cohn
504.293.4721
jcohn@longuevue.com

Students from Waldo Burton Memorial School Join Longue Vue to Sell Produce to Benefit Local Nonprofit

Waldo Burton Memorial School students participating in Longue Vue House and Gardens' Cultivating Communities, a youth gardening, entrepreneurism and philanthropy program, will be selling produce at the Hollygrove Market on November 15. The students have already raised over $250 at their first market date and will donate this money, as well as proceeds from upcoming sales, to a local nonprofit organization.

In Fall 2010, Longue Vue relaunched Cultivating Communities, a successful youth program that originally ran from 2001 until 2005. For this year's Cultivating Communities program, the Longue Vue staff, in collaboration with educators from the Waldo Burton Memorial School, have been teaching Waldo Burton students about gardening, entrepreneurism, and philanthropy. Using garden space at Longue Vue, the students are growing vegetables and herbs to sell at local farmers markets. At the end of the school year, the students will donate the proceeds they earn to a local nonprofit organization of their choice.

From 12 to 3 p.m. on November 15, the students will be at the Tuesday Hollygrove Farmers Market at 8301 Olive St. selling the fresh vegetables and herbs that they have been growing, as well as garden products they have made. Jennifer Cohn and Megan Roniger, Cultivating Communities Coordinators at Longue Vue, note that over time the students have taken on more and more ownership of the project, and they are very excited to go to market, not just to sell their produce but also to share their stories. Cohn goes on to explain that "the students have become great ambassadors for Longue Vue and the program. Whenever they are gardening at Longue Vue, they are proud to show visitors their produce while talking about Cultivating Communities."

Cultivating Communities was inspired by Longue Vue's mission to use the historical and artistic legacy of Longue Vue to educate and inspire people to pursue beauty and civic responsibility in their lives. In addition to growing in the garden and selling at market, the practices of philanthropy and community engagement are introduced through classroom discussion, as well as through fieldtrips to nonprofit organizations. The program is designed to build the students' understanding of marketing, mathematics, language, and research. Waldo Burton teacher Matthew Schrenk enthuses, "The Cultivating Communities program at Longue Vue Gardens has added such depth to our classroom instruction. Our boys need the real world skills that they are learning at Longue Vue."

Joe Baker, Longue Vue's Executive Director, has made the reprisal of this program a top priority since being hired: "This mission-driven program is central to our identity, as we shift models from reverence to relevance. We are striving to carry on the legacy of Edith and Edgar Stern [the founders of Longue Vue], who through their philanthropic efforts aspired to bring about meaningful social change."

Cultivating Communities enriches the entire community, from the youth who experience the power of philanthropic giving, to the adults who witness the development of the students, to the customers who feast on fresh produce, to the nonprofit that receives the students' donation. To support this program or for more information, contact Jennifer Cohn at 504.293.4721 or jcohn@longuevue.com.

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The students are scheduled to be at the Hollygrove Farmers Market at 8301 Olive St. from 12 to 3 p.m. on November 15. Their next market day will take place on December 13. Media are welcome to photograph and interview the students.

The students are also on site at Longue Vue in the gardens from 1 to 2:30 p.m. every Tuesday until December 6, with the exception of November 22. Media are welcome to photograph and interview the students with advance notice.

Longue Vue House and Gardens is an 8-acre Country Place Era estate comprised of a Classical Revival-style mansion surrounded by eleven different gardens, including an interactive children's garden, as well as a one-acre garden devoted to native plants of southeast Louisiana. The former home of philanthropists Edith and Edgar Stern, Longue Vue now serves as an educational and cultural resource. Longue Vue offers tours, holds events and exhibits, and provides educational and community programming to fulfill its mission "to preserve and use the historical and artistic legacy of Longue Vue and its creators to educate and inspire people to pursue beauty and civic responsibility in their lives." Longue Vue, a designated National Historic Landmark, is accredited by the American Association of Museums, and is included on the National Register of Historic Places. For more information, visit www.longuevue.com.