We had a wonderful time hosting our second year of Chefs in the Garden summer day camps. This year, we offered two weeks of camp for children ages 6-8 during the month of July and three weeks of camp for children ages 8-12 during the month of August. Eighty children participated in this summer’s Chefs in the Garden—camp was at full capacity every week! 

The goal of the camp was to provide a safe, healthy and active environment where children could learn how to grow their own food, learn fun ways to eat healthful foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, and learn how environmental stewardship is part of a healthy lifestyle. Not wanting income to be a barrier to this experience, the Healthy Youth Program was able to offer 29 full scholarships thanks in part to the generosity of the Corvallis Kiwanis Club Youth Services Committee. 

Parent surveys provided the following information: 

Question #1: Overall, did your child enjoy camp? 

child enjoyment

Question #2: Do you think your child learned some basic cooking skills?

cooking skills

Question #3: Do you think that your child is more interested in eating fruits and vegetables (F/V) after participating in Chefs in the Garden? 

vegetables

Question #4: Did you feel there was enough variety in the meals provided at camp? 

meal variety

Question #5: Did you feel the recipes were kid-friendly? 

kid friendly recipes

Question #6: Have you used any of the recipes at home since your child attended camp? 

recipe use

Question #7: How likely are you to visit our website when looking for new recipes? 

online recipes

Question #8: How likely are you to recommend this camp to your friends or family? 

camp recommendations

Good words 

My daughter loved the camp and wants to do more. She also told me how delicious the food was.

Thank you for a wonderful summer camp. My son loved it!! It was also convenient and well worth the price.

Colin really loved the camp. We just wished it had been longer.

In my opinion, this is the best camp my daughter was enrolled in this summer (there were 3). We frequently go to the LPI website for recipes, and she cooked 4 meals for us while we were on vacation using these recipes. I am a HUGE fan of this program!! 

The camp instructors were fantastic! 

It was fun! My child liked harvesting food and working with the worms. My child learned some cutting skills as well. 

Our child was not sure going into this camp whether she would like it and she ended up loving it! I like that it had a mix of games, art, cooking, and learning about gardening and insects. The instructors were great with the kids and we enjoyed the last day when the kids made a snack for the parents and got to show them around. Great job! 

We absolutely loved camp! It was one of the best my kids have ever been to. My eight year old loved the cooking part of it and my six year old loved all of the bug stuff. They both are very into eating healthy because of camp. I love it when they get that message from other adults!!! The staff was wonderful and I really loved how many teachers were there every day. I will and have already recommend this camp to everyone I know! Thank you for an amazing experience! 

My kid enjoyed your program very much. We wish we had something like this during our regular school year for everyone to attend. We plan to sign up again for next year. Thank you!!!