The Firehouse Restaurant, located at 711 NE Dekum Street, is selling tickets for a five-course dinner benefiting the Woodlawn Children’s Garden. The event will be held on Tuesday, October 6th, with a no-host cocktail hour beginning at 6:00pm, followed by a family-style supper featuring fruits and vegetables grown in the Children’s Garden. Tickets for the event are $50, which includes dinner with wine, and are tax-deductible. The evening will include a short speech by Portland Parks commissioner Nick Fish, and an opportunity to tour the garden from 5:00pm – 6:00pm. Please use the contact information above for tickets and other ways to support the Children’s Garden.

“We believe it is important to eat fresh, organic, and locally grown food – both for your physical health and for the health of the community” says Matthew Busetto, chef and co-owner of The Firehouse. “Educating children about the connection they have with their environment, their community, and their own well-being is important to creating a legacy for this belief.”

The children’s garden program began in Portland in 1992. Since then, it has existed both as an after school only program and as it is now  – with classes held both during school, as part of their science and health curriculums, after school, and in the summer. While it used to exist in several schools throughout the district, Woodlawn School is the only remaining children’s garden site. The children’s garden program is co-sponsored by Portland Parks and Recreations and the Friends of Portland Community Gardens. However, the garden coordinator position, integral to the viability of the program, is reliant on grants and donations. At press time, there is no funding to continue the position beyond September, leaving the future of the garden grossly uncertain.

“The garden is a vehicle for teaching these life lessons as much as it is for science, nutrition, or art,” Reynolds comments.

Adds Leslie Pohl-Kosblau, Director of Portland Parks and Recreation’s Community Gardens Program, “the garden is a rich, tactile experience. It teaches lessons about nutrition – it gets some kids to eat foods they might otherwise not be exposed to or inclined to eat.”

Firehouse Restaurant, located in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Northeast Portland, is the brainchild of restaurateur Eric Rose and chef/restaurateur Matthew Busetto. The team came together with a vision of serving honest and good food, made from locally and sustainably farmed ingredients, at a fair price. They are active participants in the revitalization of the neighborhood – expressing their dedication to it through their support of local organizations like Woodlawn elementary school, the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association and the Woodlawn Children’s Garden. Entering their second year in business, their philosophy has caught the interest of the Portland food community and beyond.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 8:53 pm and is filed under Calendar, Family / Kids, Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.