Melbourne food icon, author and restaurateur Stephanie Alexander created the Kitchen Garden Program at Collingwood College, Victoria, in 2001, to engage children in growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing delicious and healthy food.
In 2004 she established the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, which currently supports 27 projects in Victoria.
By successfully lobbying State and Federal Governments, as well as philanthropic and corporate bodies, the foundation raised sufficient funds so that the Kitchen Garden Program would be embedded in the curriculum of nearly 250 primary schools during the next four years.
Stephanie is renowned for Stephanie’s restaurant, which in its 21 years of operation contributed to Melbourne’s reputation as one of the world’s leading culinary cities.
In the Kitchen Garden Program children across Years 3 to 6 spend a minimum of 40 minutes a week in an extensive vegetable garden, which they have helped design, build and maintain on the school grounds according to organic gardening principles.
They also spend one and a half hours each week in a kitchen classroom preparing and sharing a wonderful variety of meals created from their produce.
Run by a small staff, the not-for-profit foundation relies on its fund raising and cost saving efforts.
In August 2008, through the DonorTec program, the foundation received a range of Microsoft® products and licensing.
“As a not-for-profit organisation our IT budget is limited. By significantly reducing our software costs we were able to refresh our hardware (servers, laptops and desktops) and implement more robust servers,” said Ange Barry, Executive Officer of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.
“The new servers and operating software allows us to have a more robust file storage, better backup and ‘secure files’.
“The most exciting part of the solution has been the Terminal Server, which ultimately allows much better remote access, effectively allowing staff to logon from home and function as they would office based, which allows more flexibility for our team,” said Ms Barry.
“We have limited financial resources and need to leverage technology and the web to extend our reach and the sharing of knowledge about the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program.”
Ms Barry said that ultimately, the Foundation’s school communities benefited from the donation.
“Given our very limited financial resources, we have a small and very dedicated team. Information Technology is one of the more cost effective ways of extending our reach to our national and international audience. In addition, the more effective the tools are that our staff use the more effectively we can support our school communities.”
She said Foundation staff members were delighted to see Microsoft® supporting organisations such as theirs. “Where resources are lean, any technology enablers can make a significant difference to the staff and to our school communities.”
Who are they?
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation
Where are they?
Projects throughout,
Victoria, Australia
What do they do?
In the Kitchen Garden Program primary school children work in a vegetable garden, which they have helped design, build and maintain on the school grounds according to organic gardening principles. They also work in a kitchen classroom preparing and sharing meals created from their produce.
What did they receive?
Microsoft® software packages and licensing.
The outcome?
“Where resources are lean, any technology enablers can make a significant difference to the staff and to our school communities.”
- Ange Barry.
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