My Organic School

Description

Our mission is to create healthy, nutritional change in the families of Australian school students.

We help your school setup and run an organic fruit & vege buying group. Member families volunteer to divvy up bulk organic produce into weekly $50 boxes making the organic produce up to 45% cheaper than retail.

Funds go to building your school's own raised vege beds and the running of healthy eating and vegetable gardening classes around the school's vege garden.

"My Organic School" is a full loop nutritional transformation program for your school.

Founder's Journey:

"I started my first organic group back in 2010, four months after my daughter was born. There I was about to puree her first solid vegetable meal and I just couldn't get past the fact that the pear and broccoli I was going to use were coated in pesticides and herbicides.

I went looking for an affordable organic alternative and I couldn't find one. The cost to go 100% organic was just too expensive through conventional retail outlets with their staffing, rental, operating and freight costs. So I setup a local organic buying group in the NSW Mid North Coast which has been going strong for six years.

When my daughter started attending school it dawned on me that schools were the perfect place for organic vege box groups to flourish and create lasting healthy nutritional change. By giving back to the school through building vege beds and a healthy eating education program the whole school benefits.

School P&C associations fulfill their charter of ensuring the wellbeing of their students and families. Schools fulfill their PDPHE (personal development, physical health education) curriculum requirements. Most importantly the school becomes more connected with its community.

The positives of being involved in a vege box buying group have been many and varied. Obviously cheap organic produce and a much healthier diet are key but I have been surprised by some of the others.

Receiving a box each week changes the way my family cooks, we now have a 85% plant based diet and our health has improved immeasurably. I suffered in my 20's from a debilitating arthritic autoimmune disease. Healthy, organic, whole food eating has all but eliminated all of my symptoms.

Eliminating processed foods and reducing sugar has greatly improved my daughter's ability to concentrate at school, be physically active and grounded emotionally.

We are now connected to the source of our food. We know who actually farmed our produce and the practices they used. Food is no longer an anonymous commodity or simple unit of energy. Unpacking our box each week is a joy as I watch my daughter excited about knowing how each item was farmed, that the environment hasn't been harmed, that it is chemical free and that it is going to nourish her body.

Observing the convenience for parents of picking up their weekly vege box when they pick up their children from school was a real "aha" moment. Who would have thought a school based organic vege buying group was more convenient than a supermarket!

Perhaps the most surprising upside to being in the program has been the building of a like-minded, health conscious community. We work together for the common good of improving our family's nutrition. With funds going back to the school's vege beds and healthy eating program we are transforming our school students' relationship with food for life.

David Walsman Founder: My Organic School

Locations

Addresses

• AU10 Bronte Marine Dr; Sydney, New South Wales 2024Primary

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