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Briefing Room

The White House
Office of the First Lady
For Immediate Release
June 02, 2015

First Lady Michelle Obama To Harvest The White House Kitchen Garden, Highlight Pollinators

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Washington, DC * 3:30 PM – The First Lady will welcome students from across the country who participate in the ten Let’s Move! sub-initiative programs to harvest the White House Kitchen Garden. In 2009, Mrs. Obama planted a vegetable garden on the South Lawn to initiate a national conversation around the health and wellbeing of our nation—a conversation that evolved into her Let’s Move! initiative.

This garden harvest will highlight the important role of pollinators in the healthy food that we grow and consume. Last year, Mrs. Obama planted a pollinator garden next to the White House Kitchen Garden to support bees, monarch butterflies, and other pollinators as part of Administration efforts to promote pollinator health. Pollinators play a critical role in supporting agricultural production, and they are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we take. Because pollinators are facing disturbing signs of decline from a variety of causes, important efforts are underway to support pollinator health and habitat.

In addition to strategies and recommendations outlined by the Administration’s Pollinator Health Task Force, outside organizations have stepped up to support pollinators.  This year, W. Atlee Burpee & Co. donated one million pollinator seed packets to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Interior to encourage people to plant pollinator gardens in communities across the country. Nearly 30,000 of these seed packets were distributed to families at this year’s Easter Egg Roll.  As well, the newly established National Pollinator Garden Network is launching on Wednesday the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, a nationwide call to action to preserve and create gardens and landscapes that help revive the health of pollinators. More information on this challenge will be available at Wednesday’s event.

To help her with the harvest, Mrs. Obama invited children from schools and locations that participate in the ten Let’s Move! programs, representing the millions of Americans that have been impacted by the Let’s Move! initiative. Children from each of these programs also joined the First Lady at this year’s garden planting in April. These programs (full list below) were launched in collaboration with federal agencies, businesses, and non-profits to mobilize every sector to work in alignment with the overall goals of Let’s Move! and offer solutions, objectives, and technical assistance to help kids and families lead healthier lives.

The event will be livestreamed at obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/live.

Children from the following Let’s Move! programs will participate in the planting:

 

Let’s Move! Active Schools (LMAS)

Let’s Move! Active Schools is the national solution to ensure 60 minutes of physical activity is the new norm for schools.

  • Seaton Elementary School – Washington, DC
Let’s Move! Child Care (LMCC)

Let’s Move! Child Care is a nationwide call-to-action that empowers child care and early education providers to make positive health changes in children that could last a lifetime.

  • CentroNia Daycare Center – Washington, DC
Let’s Move! Cities, Towns and Counties (LMCTC)

Let's Move! Cities, Towns and Counties assists local elected officials as they implement policy and environmental changes to prevent childhood obesity.

  • Greenbelt Recreation Department – Greenbelt, MD
Let’s Move! Faith and Communities (LMFC)

Let’s Move! Faith and Communities encourages faith-based and neighborhood organizations to initiate, expand, and coordinate activities that make their communities places of wellness for kids and families.

  • Langley Park McCormick – Hyattsville, MD
Let’s Move! in Indian Country (LMIC)

Let's Move! in Indian Country seeks to improve the health of American Indian and Alaska Native children, who are affected by childhood obesity at some of the highest rates in the country.

  • Oglala Sioux Tribe Child Care and Development Program– Pine Ridge, SD
Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens (LMMG)

Through Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens, museums of all types — from children’s museums and public gardens to zoos, science centers, and art and history museums — inspire healthy habits.

  • Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden – Henrico, VA
Let’s Move! Outside (LMO)

Let’s Move! Outside was created to get kids and families to take advantage of America’s great outdoors-which abound in every city, town and community.

  • Frederick Douglas National Historic Site – National Capital Region
Let’s Move! Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S)

Let’s Move! Salad Bars to Schools has a simple, yet lofty goal, for every school in the United States to have a salad bar so that every child -- from elementary school, to middle school, to high school -- has daily access to healthy foods.

  • Carrollton Middle School – Carrollton, GA
Let’s Read! Let’s Move! (LRLM)

Let’s Read! Let’s Move! is an initiative that aims to increase awareness about the critical importance of learning, nutrition, and physical activity through reading. 

  • Carlin Springs Elementary School – Arlington, VA
Chefs Move to Schools (CMTS)

Chefs Move to Schools encourages chefs to volunteer in schools and partner with teachers, parents, school nutritionists, food service directors, and administrators.

  • Charles Powell Community Center – Memphis, TN

Mrs. Obama will also be joined in the garden by students from Bancroft Elementary School and Harriet Tubman Elementary School, who have been active participants in the White House Kitchen Garden since the very first planting.