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WELCOME! This website is the result of a ten-year journey to share my passion for the beauty and joy that can be found in nature....particularly in our own backyard! We are all kids (some us younger... some of us older) and we can all benefit from an intimate association with our glorious planet. After all, we are all part of the earth. We come from the earth and are sustained by it....earth to earth... ashes to ashes and all that. A few slightly nutty but truly wonderful people have joined me over the years and together we have formed KIDS GROWING STRONG. We benefit from the knowledge, experience and dedication of California Garden Clubs Inc.members throughout our state. The mission and goals below is the result of a lot of soul-searching to find out what we really want to do...where we want to go and how we want to get there. It may be a little dry and boring....but it is really heartfelt. Thanks for taking the time to visit! Maryanne Lucas
		OUR MISSION We are on a journey to inspire children and their families to discover and adopt healthy lifestyles through proper nutrition and exercise while motivating them to actively learn about themselves and the environment. Through hands-on, science-based activities, we encourage kids to become energetic & engaged, build a strong knowledge-base and develop the measurable lifetime skills necessary to lead healthy lives and make informed decisions. We believe that the best youth development occurs where kids are actively involved in creating their own learning experience with their friends and family. We believe that the support of family and friends is crucial for success. We encourage parents and mentors to take a proactive approach toward the health and well-being of children and support them by offering resource material, tools, training and opportunities to network with experts and like-minded individuals. By introducing children to the joy and wonders of nature in an informal and entertaining academic environment, we strive to enable children to internalize the knowledge, skills and values they need to build confidence in themselves and become contributing members of their community.
OUR GOAL to empower children to take immediate and specific action to enhance their own lives to encourage kids to become more physically active to demonstrate how kids can derive good health, energy and nutrition from wise food choices to explain nature's technology in terms of plant life and the environment to give children the opportunity to discover the wonders that science can bring into their lives to develop appreciation for natural beauty and inspire interest in the arts to help children learn they have a place in nature and thus promote the appreciation and conservation of our Earth to help children realize they are part of a community that cares about them to impart skills and values that will help children build confidence in themselves and become contributing members of their community to encourage family & friends to share experiences and build relationships with kids to provide parents and mentors with the tools they need to help attain these goals
	OUR VISION Energetic, engaged, healthy children who develop a passion for life-long learning