Bringing the farm a little closer to the school with the Good Food Box

A new initiative at Spring Park School in Charlottetown is aiming to bring a little bit of the farm into the city.

The Good Food Box Initiative provides an easy way for families to fundraise for the school and support Island farmers at the same time.

Program founder Jennifer Whittaker said the Good Food Box Initiative is a way "to think creatively about how schools can be promoting their own community while also supporting the broader community around them."

The boxes cost $30 dollars, with $10 dollars going to the Home and School Association and the rest to the farmer. Whittaker's goal is to sell at least 100 boxes to Spring Park parents and staff by Friday.

Pilot project could expand

"[It's] a fundraiser for the school, but also trying to bring those partnerships from local business and local farmers to the school and at the same timeopen up that communication," said Whittaker.

Whittaker got the idea from a similar program in Nova Scotia, where it raises tens of thousands of dollars a year for a number of schools across the province.

Whittaker received a $1,600 grant from the Department of Agriculture for the pilot project, which covers some initial printing costs and an honorarium for herself.

A number of schools expressed interest in the program, she said, but Spring Park was first to respond. She hopes to expand it to other schools next year.

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