ThedaCare Contribution Helps Share Bounty
Danielle Kamba is an avid gardener. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to share her passion for gardening with her students at New London High School, thanks to a $600 contribution from ThedaCare.
“It was a really great learning opportunity,” said Kamba, a special education teacher. “It was amazing to have the opportunity to have a little more of a classroom budget and do something that was meaningful and that the students can transfer out of the classroom.”
The students in her Daily Living Skills class started in the spring with planning the supplies and seeds needed. Then they used the school greenhouse to start the plants from seed, using organic seed starter and sunshine. Kamba said things grew a little slower than predicted, due to a late spring. However, the students enjoyed cut leaf lettuce topped with a homemade mason jar salad dressing. “They all think dressing comes out of the fridge and is already made,” she said, noting the students enjoyed the opportunity to measure the ingredients needed to make the dressing and shake the jar.
The Daily Living Skills Class includes some cooking lessons but Kamba wanted to show the students how to grow produce and learn how to eat healthier at a very low cost. “It was something I have never done before with this group of students but felt they needed to learn where their food came from,” said Kamba. “When we were able to eat what we grew, that definitely increased the motivation in all of them. It will only continue to increase, as our crops continue to grow and, hopefully, become bountiful over the summer and into the fall.”
At the end of the school year, Kamba transferred a lot of the plants to her home garden to continue to caring for them over the summer. She is excited to share the bounty of produce in the fall with her students. The students planted lettuce, zucchini, beets, green beans, sugar snap peas and a “bush” type cherry tomato. They also tried cucumber, but those did not make it. In addition, they planted different herbs.
She is planning to teach her students to make spaghetti sauce and salsa, how to dehydrate herbs, and try zucchini in a savory manner. “Some of the students are very used to eating processed junk food. It's all that they know. I'm hoping to broaden their horizons,” said Kamba.
For more than 100 years, ThedaCare™ has been committed to finding a better way to deliver serious and complex healthcare to patients throughout Northeast Wisconsin. The organization serves over 200,000 patients annually and employs more than 7,000 healthcare professionals throughout the region. ThedaCare has seven hospitals located in Appleton, Neenah, Berlin, Waupaca, Shawano, New London and Wild Rose as well as 34 clinics in nine counties. ThedaCare is the first in Wisconsin to be a Mayo Clinic Care Network Member, giving our specialists the ability to consult with Mayo Clinic experts on a patient’s care. ThedaCare is a non-profit healthcare organization with a level II trauma center, comprehensive cancer treatment, stroke and cardiac programs as well as a foundation dedicated to community service. ThedaCare Regional Cancer Center in Appleton opened in February. For more information, visit www.thedacare.org or follow ThedaCare on Facebook and Twitter.
