Community Roots Academy Receives $10,000 Garden Grant from Sprouts

Community Roots Academy (CRA), one of Orange County’s premier K-8 public charter schools, has been awarded a $10,000 Sprouting School Garden grant from the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation in conjunction with the Sprouts supermarket on La Paz Road in Laguna Niguel.

Sprouting School Gardens grants fund new or existing school-based gardening programs that provide students with hands-on learning opportunities that bring nutrition education to life for students. In total, the Foundation awarded $4 million to neighborhood elementary schools and local nonprofit agencies focused on nutrition, health, and wellness. It supports nutrition education and garden-based science education to help children develop environmental literacy.

“Thanks to Sprouts for helping us cultivate environmental literacy and healthy futures,” said Eve Fein, co-founder and executive director of Operations at CRA. “Our winning application emphasized how we empower students to grow and explore fresh, nutritious foods, helping them build lifelong healthy eating habits. This grant will enhance our environmental and nutrition education in our garden classes by providing more opportunities for students to learn about nutrition and discover new foods through cooking lessons.”

CRA’s lush Discover Garden is a centerpiece of the school’s commitment to environmental sustainability and stewardship. This year, CRA earned a silver level honor in the California Green Ribbon Schools awards program in recognition of its environmental excellence and demonstrated achievement reducing environmental impacts, improving health and wellness by promoting a healthy physical environment, and offering effective environmental and sustainability education.

Sprouts team members in all 423 Sprouts locations nationwide presented live checks to the local organizations in a coordinated same-day event. “Many of the organizations that received support from our Foundation were nominated by our store Team Members, bringing our value of caring for our communities to life in a very real way,” said Jack Sinclair, chief executive officer of Sprouts Farmers Market.

Grants are funded in part by donations collected from customers during the checkout process, where guests are given the opportunity to round up their purchase to support local children’s nutrition education programs.

“We are thrilled to partner with so many incredible grassroots organizations and schools that share our commitment to helping children and adults live healthier lives,” said Lyndsey Waugh, executive director of the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation.

Since 2015, the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation has awarded over $25 million in grants to organizations that are working on the front lines of nutrition education and wellness. An estimated 3 million children participate in programs supported by the Foundation each year and Sprouts expects to more than double its grant programs in the year ahead.

For more information on the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, visit www.sprouts.com/about/sprouts-... For more information about CRA, visit communityrootsacademy.org.

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About Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.

True to its farm-stand heritage, Sprouts offers a unique grocery experience featuring an open layout with fresh produce at the heart of the store. Sprouts inspires wellness naturally with a carefully curated assortment of better-for-you products paired with purpose-driven people. The healthy grocer continues to bring the latest in wholesome, innovative products made with lifestyle-friendly ingredients such as organic, plant-based and gluten-free. Headquartered in Phoenix, and one of the largest and fastest growing specialty retailers of fresh, natural and organic food in the United States, Sprouts employs approximately 32,000 team members and more than 415 stores in 23 states nationwide. To learn more about Sprouts, and the good it brings communities, visit about.sprouts.com.