Today, NPR reported on a study coming from the New York Federal Reserve, which does occasional surveys to track food insecurity, and found it is at higher levels than during COVID shutdowns six years ago. Other states are finding the same thing. About 10% of American households are missing meals and 16% are relying on food donations; for lower income families below $50,000, 20% have missed meals. This is not good for anyone, and hurts our low-income students' ability to learn if they are hungry.
In order to do our part, some ETHS students are helping maintain and get harvests of fresh produce from tower gardens we have in our Chem/Phys rooms and research center. In partnership with a community nonprofit called Evanston Grows, we donate all fresh produce to their farm stands and to the food pantry at Faith Temple Church. For the 2025-26 school year, 809 bags (mostly gallon size) at 166 pounds were donated to the 25 families supported by the church. We are looking to break 1000 bags for the 2026-27 school year, and welcome the help of additional towers from our Urban Agriculture classes! We'll also add student-built grow systems in some of the elementary schools we partner with in Project Excite.
If you would like to help support this, especially with donations to help purchase additional towers and materials to build our own systems, email Dr. Vondracek (Doc V) at vondracekm@eths202.org.
We get beautiful lettuces, arugula, rainbow chard, kale, parsley, and basil from our towers. We will add mushrooms next year. Students, of course, maintain these and help with the harvesting!
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