GROW

GROW La Crosse is a non-profit organization formed in 2012 by enthusiastic parents and community members in order to connect children to healthy food and nature through school gardens and farm experiences.

We currently maintain 8 school garden spaces in the La Crosse and La Crescent School Districts, provide hands-on field trips to our state-of-the-art greenhouse on the Western Technical College Campus and host farm experiences. We raise the funds required to sustain these programs through sponsorships, fundraisers, and grants.

Volunteers are an integral part of helping us connect as many students as possible to hands-on garden-based learning experiences to nourish growing minds and bodies. Volunteer opportunities are varied and change with the seasons as does our outreach.

During the winter months we provide field trip experiences in the greenhouse.  Volunteers help tend to plants, transplant and plant seeds, prep materials for students and our regular intern volunteers help lead and assist with programming. 

Late in the winter / early spring we start preparing for our annual plant sale fundraiser.  Volunteers help us grow hundreds of plants to raise funds to support our mission.  The more volunteer help we have the greater the impact of this fundraising event. 

In the spring we also shift our efforts to planning for and hosting school garden lessons.  We serve a number of schools through maintaining their school gardens and providing garden lessons to each of the classes at each of our partner schools. It takes many volunteers to care for the school gardens and keep the plants watered and harvested throughout the summer months.  

Fall brings more opportunities to help with garden harvests and clean up. Preparing these spaces for winter is an important part of our planning for the next growing season. 

Throughout the year we host interns who volunteer an average of 6 hours a week. These volunteers engage in student programming, plant care, non-profit work and building skills for their future endeavors. We also host group volunteer events, which can be great for team building and service oriented groups who want to make a positive impact on our community.