Green Plate Special

About us

Green Plate Special's (GPS) mission is to inspire and empower youth to experience food in new ways through gardening, cooking, and eating together. We engage 4^th-8^th graders (ages 9-14) year-round through hands-on classes and workshops offered during school and after school and through camp programs that take place at our quarter-acre teaching garden and kitchen in north Rainier Valley, an ethnically diverse area of predominantly low-income neighborhoods. 

Our goals are to provide:

• ACCESS TO FOOD: the opportunity to experience food through the process of growing, harvesting and tending, with their own hands; teaching youth to prepare foods and laying the foundation for lifelong, healthy eating habits and self-sufficiency (life skills).

• ACCESS TO EDUCATION: engaging youth in informal nutrition, science and math education through our hands-on approach of experiential learning that is FUN and provides “aha” moments

• ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP: the opportunity to learn about the environment through direct participation in sustainable agricultural practices. We connect cooking and eating to planting, tending and harvesting these foods. Youth understand the importance of caring for our environment because it connects directly to their stomach!

• TEAM AND COMMUNITY BUILDING: by engaging youth in open dialog and providing many opportunities for them to make choices and stretch their individual boundaries while collaborating with team members and supportive adults.