Privileged to support the staff and teachers by welcoming them back with lunch before the kids return to campus at our adopted schools, Marguerita Elementary and Ynez Elementary. We look forward to our ongoing partnership these schools this year!
Author: Catalyst SGV
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Catalyst SGV Receives New Grant!
We are grateful for the generous Panda Charitable Family Foundation grant that will support and continue the local school garden projects we have throughout the west San Gabriel Valley. Here’s to more students benefiting from these outdoor classrooms about local ecology and how to grow and enjoy their own food!
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A Successful Native Milkweed Event
A successful native milkweed giveaway to support declining Monarch butterfly populations at the Monterey Park Farmers Market. We gave over 300+ plants to 84 people in only an hour and a half! Thanks for the support and partnership with the Parks and Rec. Dept. of the City of Monterey Park, and the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District.
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Native Milkweed for Monarchs
Catalyst SGV is giving out native milkweed grown from seed to support declining Monarch butterfly populations at the Monterey Park Farmers Market on Thursday, August 26, 2026 from 4:30pm until supplies last. This is a project we have also had student engagement with among our school partners for the last two seasons – they are always excited to see caterpillars on the plants as they grow.
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Cooking Class: Ice Cream
This cohort from Ynez Elementary were shocked to find out it only takes three ingredients to make ice cream. They had so much fun they wanted to make it with other friends and posted on their social media stories! These middle school cooking classes and other skill building enrichment classes are part of Catalyst SGV’s Adopt-A-School program that we offer to our local school partners.
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Farm to Table Gardening classes
This spring we used grown tomatoes and basil in the garden to make a bruschetta with the 4th & 5th grade Gardening classes at Ynez Elementary – they kept coming back for seconds and thirds!
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Gardening Activities with Spark Academy Corp’s summer camp
This summer our garden team taught at Spark Academy Corp’s summer camp, engaging Kinder-8th grade students in growing veggies and flowers in an alleyway garden. Kids are enthusiastic to see how the plants and seeds they grow will turn out!
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Mini-Grant Thank you
My name is Peir Huynh, and I am a Kindergarten teacher at Ynez Elementary School. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for awarding me the teacher mini-grant this school year. I have attached photos to show how meaningfully it was used in my classroom.
Your generous support has had a truly positive impact on my students’ learning experiences and has allowed them to take part in engaging and creative activities that would not have been possible otherwise. I deeply appreciate your kindness and investment in education.
Thank you once again for your generosity and continued support.
With gratitude,
Peir Huynh
Kindergarten Teacher
Ynez Elementary School
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Baldwin Elementary Nutrition Advisory Council & Wellness Garden
Great to work with the #Baldwin Elementary NAC (Nutrition Advisory Council) students the last two weeks: student painted stepping stones with inspirational quotes they installed in the wellness garden and planted more spring veggies and flowers in the pollinator garden. Also found a bunch of butterfly chrysalis in the garden. Looking forward to how all this new life will look in the near future!
