NEWS RELEASE CONTACTS: November 22, 2011
Ron Graham, (440) 350-2358
lgraham@lcghd.org
General Health District
Linda Legg, (440) 639-4650
llegg@concordtwp.com
Concord Township
Paul Hegreness, (440) 974-5123
hegreness@cityofmentor.com
City of Mentor
TWO LAKE COUNTY COMMUNITIES RECEIVE FUNDS FOR COMMUNITY GARDENS
Lake County General Health District has received a $21,850 grant from Kaiser Permanente to support the development of a community garden project in Mentor and Concord. The funds will be shared among the two communities to create and maintain the gardens. Individual plots will be available in both communities in the spring of 2012. Interested residents can contact Linda Legg of Concord Township at (440) 639-4650 and Paul Hegreness of the City of Mentor at (440) 974-5123 for more information.
The Lake County General Health District and its ACHIEVE Wellness Lake County Initiative have identified the development of community gardens in Lake County as one of their priority goals. A community garden is a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people. Evidence shows that community gardens help to improve the diet and nutrition of community residents.
Community gardens increase the sense of community ownership, bring people from a variety of backgrounds together and build community leaders. Most importantly, community gardens help youth thrive by demonstrating where food comes from, helping them to learn basic business principles, teaching them to apply nutrition education to their lives and encouraging them to practice environmental sustainability. Deputy Health Commissioner Ron Graham commented, “This is one example of how we feel the Health District should help serve the residents of Lake County. We pride ourselves in being able to effectively acquire grant dollars to address the needs and benefit the lives of our residents. Being able to do that in partnership with communities like Concord and Mentor is just that much better.”
For more information on becoming involved with ACHIEVE or how your business can support its efforts, please visit www.lakecountyohio.gov/achieve or www.lcghd.org .
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