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OPERATION: VEGETABLES

VEGGIE SUPERHEROES & VILLAINS:

Three groups of kids from Memorial Nottingham and Collinwood Branch Libraries and the Grovewood salvation Army Summer Camp, all from Cleveland's North Collinwood neighborhoods took the workshops were inspired to create Veggie Superheroes from their favorite vegetables & Supervillains from their most reviled ones. They ate fun and healthy snacks and added favorite fruits as their characters' sidekicks, and some chose to write story lines for puppets and comic books.

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These characters are not only positive reinforcement associating fresh veggies with fun, they are the basis of the characters I'll be using to design a large scale board game that is being created where the kids will become the actual game pieces and hijinx happens as they navigate to find healthy foods while having fun.

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Each child who participated in the program were given gift tote bags from Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, which they got to decorate, filled with veggie or fruit seed packets, decorated flower pots and gift certificates to Coit Road Farmer's Market, a nearby market that's been around for 80 years - the longest running in Ohio.

© 2016 Zolten Wood Design, Created with Wix.com

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  Healthy Eating Just Got More FUN!

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Created by 2016 Ballot Box Project Grantee Linda Zolten Wood. She engaged Collinwood children from 1st - 5th grades who attended workshops in Northeast Ohio's Memorial Nottingham Library (Mem/Nott), Grovewood Road Salvation Army Summer Camp and Collinwood Branch Library designing ‘Veggie Superheroes & Villains’.

 

Zolten Wood has been painting the newly planted vegetable garden box at Mem/Nott in the early morning hours before the sun bore down and scorched her face. The kids’ hilarious and varied characters are serving as inspiration to decorate box (and eventually the giant board game), positioned directly outside of the children’s section windows of the library, echoing the accent colors of Mem/Nott’s architecture and the painted rain barrel hand selected for the blues and greens designed by local architect Richard Fleischman.

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Her progress is being recorded on her facebook page, “Operation Vegetables” on a regular basis and will continue as a giant board game begins to be assembled, designed and painted.

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Memorial Nottingham Library‘s new Vegetable Garden box is for the families of the neighborhood to water, nurture and harvest while they enjoy their artwork and is NOW OPEN to anyone who wants to help throughout the Summer & Fall until the first frost. Children's Librarian Libby Hampton can be contacted at (216) 623-7038 to learn more about the garden and how to volunteer. The box will be replanted each Summer as long as there is support and interest.

 

This project has been generously funded by ArtPlaceAmerica and Northeast Shores Development Corporation, with added support by The Collinwood Painted Rain Barrel Project,  Neighborhood Connections, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland Water and  Cleveland Climate Action Fund. 

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                                               Contact:

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Linda Zolten Wood
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