On Saturday, July 20th, we handed out "Cool as Cucumber" packs to families! The packs included a coloring sheet, cucumber seedlings, planting instructions, quick + easy pickle recipe, and a LSUAg Harvest of the Month poster. We hope everyone enjoys planting their cucumbers!

Origin Bank is now the sponsor of the Origin Bank Family Garden at the Children’s Coalition.

The garden, opened in 2018, is located in Downtown Monroe at the Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana headquarters at 117 Hall Street. This space is a 32 raised-bed family garden and outdoor learning center to promote healthy eating, positive family interactions and garden-based learning and play.

The garden and outdoor learning center support Children’s Coalition programs and the community by growing fresh food for Early Head Start centers, training early childhood educators in garden-based learning and providing a space for families to grow, play and learn together.

​Traditionally the gates to the garden would open to the public and volunteers every third Saturday of the month for Super Saturday. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the staff of the Children’s Coalition have decided to proceed with a drive-through version on May 16. Parents and families received a gardening pack that included everything needed to begin an at-home garden.

Saturday was supposed to be our monthly Super Saturday celebration where friends and families gather for fun activities in our parking lot and family garden. Although we could not celebrate together, our team made it possible for families to garden together at home by including parenting tips to support your child through this pandemic and kits to grow zinnias together.

Evan & his mom, Heather, enjoyed our Drive-Thru Super Saturday! He was excited to plant his zinnia seeds, and learn about the parts of a plant. 

Origin Bank is now the proud sponsor of the Origin Bank Family Garden at the Children’s Coalition. The garden, opened in 2018, is located in Downtown Monroe at the Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana headquarters at 117 Hall Street. This space is a 32 raised-bed family garden and outdoor learning center to promote healthy eating, positive family interactions and garden-based learning and play. The garden and outdoor learning center support Children’s Coalition programs and the community by growing fresh food for Early Head Start centers, training early childhood educators in garden-based learning and providing a space for families to grow, play and learn together. 


Traditionally the gates to the garden would open to the public and volunteers every third Saturday of the month for Super Saturday. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the staff of the Children’s Coalition have decided to proceed with a drive-through version on Saturday, May 16th. Beginning at 9:30am, parents and families can drive up to receive a gardening pack which includes everything needed to begin an at-home garden with their children as well as tips and resources for adults. Plans for future Super Saturday events will continue as public health guidelines are issued. 


Leann Bond, Executive Director of the Children’s Coalition says, “We are excited to have Origin Bank join us as a title sponsor of our family garden! With their support along with support from others in our community, we are able to continue providing this fun hands-on program promoting healthy activities and nutritious eating habits for families.” 


Origin Bank is proud to support the Children’s Coalition and the community as a whole. They allow employees to contribute to causes they’re passionate about. Each year, they grant every Origin Bank team member “Project Enrich” hours that they can spend volunteering with an organization of their choice. Project Enrich is just one way that Origin Bank gives back to its employees and its communities. Since the program launched in 2013, Origin Bank employees have logged more than 10,000 Project Enrich hours volunteering in our communities. 


“One of Origin Bank’s core values is corporate and individual commitment to our communities,” said Billy Haddad, Ouachita Parish Market Leader of Origin Bank. “The Children’s Coalition is an organization that is doing so much for so many within our community and we are proud to partner with them to continue to make an impact in the lives of the people of Ouachita Parish.” 


This partnership will allow the Origin Bank Family Garden at the Children’s Coalition to grow and meet the needs of children and families. Additional garden beds have been built at key locations such as the Salvation Army as well as 22 child care centers to expand the principles of healthy living in Northeast Louisiana. 
To learn more about the garden or about Super Saturday, visit www.childrenscoalition.org 
To learn more about Origin Bank, visit www.origin.bank 



About the Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana 
The Children's Coalition for Northeast Louisiana is a community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1998 with the mission to create “communities where children and families thrive." The Coalition currently serves children and families in 14 parishes with services addressing the developmental, social, and emotional needs of children ages 0-18 through early care and education, health care, parenting education, and youth development. 


About Origin Bank 
Origin Bank, formerly Community Trust Bank, is a Louisiana-chartered bank serving Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. For over 100 years, we have provided a wide range of traditional banking services and are combining our industry expertise with modern applications to make banking easy both online and off. Member FDIC.

Our Family Garden is almost entirely volunteer led, and while we are NOT asking for any additional in person volunteers at this time, we wanted to spotlight our amazing team that regularly works to keep our garden growing! 
Typically we volunteer together during Super Saturday such as planting, but our work must continue. We have decided to cancel Super Saturday during April and May, and hope to return in June. 
Tomatoes, watermelons, zucchini, green beans and squash went into the garden beds and when they are ready to harvest, we hope to have returned with our Early Head Start students. If not, the produce will be donated to those in most need. 
Many thanks to LSU AgCenter Ouachita Parish, Kerry Heafer, Ralph and Jan Webb for volunteering their time to help support this project. This effort is led by nutritionist, Cindy George.

The Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana opened its community garden to the parents and children of Monroe for a morning of cultural education and outdoor fun as they celebrated Latin heritage.

From 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, September 21, the Children’s Coalition hosted its monthly event, Super Saturday, which is held on the third Saturday of every month.
 
September’s Super Saturday event was also the Children’s Coalition’s annual Latin heritage event. Bilingual speakers and students from West Monroe High School’s Spanish club volunteered to help set up and run the event.

Activities included a Spanish language bingo game and an interactive gardening workshop in which the children could participate in all aspects of maintaining the community garden.
 
Students from the University of Louisiana at Monroe ran a health awareness booth, preparing several posters featuring the dangers of alcohol and prescription drug abuse. In the community garden area, children played with an old-style hand operated water pump and enjoyed tacos made with vegetables grown right in the garden itself.
 
Several parents and children attended the free event to enjoy the sun, fun and culture. Many parents were excited about the idea of their children getting to participate in the community garden, and the gardening experts made the process fun and engaging, even for the smaller children.

One mother described how the community garden gives her son an experience that can be difficult to find living in a city like Monroe. “I like that the kids can get in here and get their hands dirty and learn about nature and things like that-things that he doesn’t get at my house,” she said.
 
At one activity station where the children were asked to peel the leafy coating from a batch of seeds, this volunteer watched as one girl began peeling a seed, and in just a few seconds, another girl eagerly ran up to the station and asked, “Can I peel the seeds, too?”
 
This was the atmosphere as groups of children rotated around the various activity stations in the garden. While one group fertilized soil and planted seeds in an empty plot, other groups prepared seeds or followed a guide around the garden, learning about the different plants that had already been planted.
 
The play area of the community garden also demonstrated the virtues of recycling, with shredded rubber bits cushioning the ground and old pots, pans, spoons and spatulas hanged on the fence for the children to make their own “music.”
 
If you missed this Super Saturday event and would like to know when the next one will be held, or if you’re interested in other Children’s Coalition events, you can find schedule and volunteer information at www.childrenscoalition.org/events.