Cultivating Youth

Volunteers are an essential part of our program. We depend on volunteers for keeping our staff to student ratio low and providing great nutrition education opportunities. Our volunteers get to participate in an exciting program, working with children in the classroom and garden. They get to enrich their knowledge with education, nutrition and gardening and assist with all aspects of our program. Our current volunteer opportunities include:

Come help out in our nutrition education classes! Classroom assistants commit to the same class every week for a full season in school at West Seattle Elementary or afterschool with one of our partners. They will have the opportunity to work with students as a class and in small groups on hands-on recipes, classroom activities, and in the garden. The next season starts March 1st and runs through mid-June when school gets out. Check out our schedule to see if there is a class that might work for you!

We will be participating in several events this winter and spring. Events volunteers can help out with set-up and clean-up in addition to the event itself.

Can't commit to regular hours? Interested in learning more about nutrition and gardening curriculum and/or helping create educational games and activities? Help us out the in the office! We are in the process of organizing and taking inventory of our large collection of curriculum materials. We are also always working on creating fun and educational games and activities for our students. We can work with you to find the best time and project to fit your schedule and level of interest.

Our 5 gardens could use a little TLC! Come help out for a few hours (our schedule is flexible and we can work with you to find a good time!). We need help cleaning up and preparing for spring. We also need help with our compost and starting our worm bin. Alternatively, participate in a garden work party! If you and your coworkers, club, or group of friends are looking for a fun, active, team-building outdoor activitiy to give back to your community, contact us to schedule a work party that will work for you.

All volunteers must complete our Volunteer Application and return it to our office. A Washington State Background check is required to work with our students or in our schoolyard gardens and will be completed after the application is received. We are currently accepting applications for the Winter season but classes start the first week of January so don't delay!

We partner with a variety of schools and youth organizations to facilitate creating opportunities for nutrition and gardening education. Contact us if your organization is interested in creating a partnership with Cultivating Youth.