ARCHS' partnerships are making a big impact in St. Louis and across the nation. Local students who are part of an ARCHS' funded garden club, participated in a national tour of community gardens that included the most famous garden in America at the White House. The White House's garden staff was impressed with the St. Louis students' knowledge and interest in gardening.

St. Louis Gardens Lead to White House

Story in St. Louis American

White House Garden Video

ARCHS' green-focused partnerships are educating St. Louisans of all ages about the importance of taking care of our environment. In August 2009, students associated with North St. Louis' Mark Twain Community Resource Center participated in a national field trip that took St. Louis area students to community gardens across America - including the new garden at the White House.

The St. Louis students have been doing their own community gardening through the local health initiative funded in part by ARCHS at Mark Twain. The students have been tending garden in St. Louis' Barrett Park with a focus on managing their weight and making wise health and nutritional choices.

The students' Sow Unique Garden Club focuses on studies in sciences, life skills, nutrition, financial literacy and alternative fuels at Clay, Ford, Walbridge and Yeatman elementary schools. Students then apply classroom instructions and learn first hand how to plant, cultivate and harvest their own fruits, veggies, herbs, shrubs and foliage at Barrett.

A student in the Barrett Garden (photo by Wiley Price)

The First Lady with Washington DC area students in the White House Garden

There is a national resurgence of interest in gardening and buying local farm fresh produce. This year, even the White House joined the green movement with its new vegetable garden thanks to first lady Michelle Obama when she broke ground on the South Lawn for the White House Kitchen Garden. “My hope,” Michelle Obama said, “is that through children, they will begin to educate their families of healthy options and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.”

With support from the St. Louis Community Credit Union and the U.S. Treasury, the students requested a tour of the new White House last spring. They were notified this summer that their request was granted.

The St. Louis students August 2009 White House tour began in the East Wing. The students were told they were one of a handful of groups to get a private tour - out of more than 3.5 million requests received to tour the garden since it was announced in Feb. 2009. On the way to the new garden, the students toured the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on the South Lawn and learned about its history and colorful plantings.

Then it was time to tour the new White House Kitchen Garden. White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses' tour of the 1,100 sq. ft. garden allowed students to explore the more then 55 varieties of vegetables- some were identical to their own plants and seedlings in their gardens back home. The students selected fresh ingredients for tasting and sampling from the White House garden of which crops are used daily for the First Family. The White House staffers were impressed with the St. Louis students knowledge of organic urban gardening.

Students delighted White House Bee-Keeper Charles Brandts as they exchanged a lively dialogue of noted facts of honey-bees, hornets and pollination. The hive of more than 60,000 bees is the first to be placed on the White House grounds.

The visit ended with a Secret Service staffer taking a group picture and telling the students about the importance of staying in school and making wise choices and decisions. The students in turn asked questions about job duties, roles, responsibilities and life at the White House.

The tour was sponsored in part by numerous St. Louis Business, Elected Officials, Public and Private Donations including: ARCHS (through Mark Twain/MOKAN), National City Bank, Mental Health Board, Harris-Stowe State University, Help America, St. Louis City Department of Health, Pepsi, and the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The student garden at Barrett Park in St. Louis