The Captain Planet Foundation, Inc. is an incredible organization that educates and empowers youth and communities to care for their environment. Through their grant programs, they enabled our youth to expand the impact of their community garden and spread knowledge about the environment to hundreds of other youth and families. Captain Planet staff also took the time to come out and meet our kids, visit our garden, and learn about our program. They truly care about improving communities and creating a healthy, sustainable environment.
Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) helps connect children to nature. I support and encourage their initiatives because I have seen positive results in my own child. There are school gardens at my daughter's school and she had been working with teachers and support staff on growing tomatoes and herbs. When the class harvested, the school had a chef come in to provide a demonstration from the foods harvested. The kids all tried a small vegetable salad and a hummus pita pocket, complete with those juicy cherry tomatoes. My daughter had been specifically refusing to eat anything red – tomatoes, spaghetti, even ketchup.
At the demonstration, she actually tried and ate the tomato. It provided a different vantage point and a little positive peer pressure to encourage healthy eating. We then decided to grow our own and have had success in incorporating fresh herbs, tomatoes, peppers and even an edible flower! I highly doubt this interest in homegrown vegetables, herbs and plants would have evolved had it not been for the combined efforts of the school and grants provided by CPF.
My relationship with Captain Planet Foundation began in October of 2011 when I was hired as the Grant and Education Administrative Intern. During my time at CPF I acquired invaluable experience learning about the grant screening process and the methods utilized by the Foundation in choosing grants to fund. Like many nonprofits, CPF was short staffed and had a limited budget. Yet what sets Captain Planet Foundation apart from other NGO's with similar restraints is their ability to reach thousands of children all over the world despite their monetary and administrative limitations. This always- and still does- amaze me and is a testemony to the effectiveness of both their grant screening process- which selects only those programs that will function indefinitely, and the dedication of its employees. It is only a matter of time before Captain Planet Foundation becomes one of the largest, most successful nonprofits in the world!
This organization is full of great people trying to get the word out about helping the environment. Captain Planet is the only eco-friendly/eco-conscious super hero. By showing up at many events around the city of Atlanta and a few elsewhere, this foundation does a great job of being involved.