WVSU’s SCRATCH Project and Huntington’s Kitchen to Celebrate Earth Day April 18

4/15/2015

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Contact: Kimberly Osborne
(304) 766-3363
kosborne@wvstateu.edu
     
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. –West Virginia State University (WVSU) Extension Service’s SCRATCH Project will celebrate Earth Day at Huntington’s Kitchen Saturday, April 18, from 2 to 4 p.m. Youth in the SCRATCH Project will dedicate a tower garden system to be used at Huntington’s Kitchen and participate in an interactive healthy cooking demonstration.

“The SCRATCH kids are excited to introduce Huntington’s Kitchen to tower gardening, allowing them to grow herbs and vegetables in a small space,” said Scott Kline, sustainability coordinator for the SCRATCH Project. “It’s an environmentally friendly method that’s worked well in our gardening efforts with youth and a perfect way for the kids to celebrate Earth Day.”

Tower garden systems use an aeroponic growing method, in which plants are grown in an air or mist environment without the use of soil.

Following the dedication of the tower system, the youth will conduct an interactive cooking demonstration with Janet McCormick, owner of Let’s Eat in Huntington.

SCRATCH, which stands for Sustainable Community Revitalization in Appalachia Through Children’s Hands, provides hands-on opportunities for at-risk youth to learn sustainable gardening that combines science, technology, engineering and mathematics with entrepreneurship. Kids participate in all aspects of garden production and management, with harvested crops being sold to local markets and restaurants. Proceeds are used to sustain the program.

Huntington’s Kitchen is a community food center with the mission of preventing and reducing diet-related disease through education about healthy food and healthy cooking.

Huntington’s Kitchen is located at 911 Third Ave. in Huntington.

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West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi‐generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.