The CalFresh Healthy Living Program at UC Cooperative Extension (CFHL, UCCE) in Riverside County has two garden projects with Riverside Faith Temple and the Community Settlement Association in Eastside Riverside. In early 2020, we received Small Sparks Neighborhood Matching Grants from the City of Riverside, Community and Economic Development Department to expand and continue our garden activities. However, these projects were on hold for over a year due to the pandemic closures. With the recent reopening of the community, our gardens are growing again.

The Riverside Faith Temple organized a planting event on Saturday, May 15^th, 2021. The event drew a crowd of 23 people, mostly church members, who came out to spend 3 hours helping to assemble two new garden boxes and plant a variety of vegetables including tomatoes, corn, zucchini squash, eggplant, onions, edamame, pole beans, cantaloupe melons, bell peppers, strawberries and basil. UCCE Master Gardener Michael Fisher was also there to give advice about what to consider before planting. The garden now has six raised beds and is growing in community support. Pastor Duane Sims in partnership with CFHL, UCCE started this community garden in June 2019 with the hope that it will be a platform for the church family and neighbors to learn and grow together in healthy living and friendship. On the day of the event, it was nice to see old friends, make new friends and to work together to build and grow this garden. The enthusiasm of this group was great, and they were a bright light on an otherwise gray May morning. 

 At the Community Settle Association (shown below), the CFHL UCCE team led a group of seven volunteers to help clean debris, pull weeds and plant tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, bell peppers, corn, onions, serrano chiles and parsley on April 28^th and May 3^rd, 2021. Although the pandemic had put a pause on this garden, it did not dampen the spirits of the group. Another event is being organized on May 26^th to bring the garden families and volunteers back together to celebrate restarting of the CSA community garden that has been in existence for 7 years. The community continues to value this garden and the opportunity to grow their own food.

With technology, the traditional brain break in the classroom has gone digital! Over 650 teachers participated in the Brain Breaks in the Virtual World session at the Alvord Unified Distance Learning Virtual Summit on August 3, 2020. CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL), UCCE Riverside County teamed up with Bethany Rivera, Wellness Lead at Loma Vista Middle School, to provide this training for TK through 12^th grade teachers.  The Virtual Summit hosted on Google Meets featured teachers teaching their peers - about live online learning strategies and socioemotional distance learning.  The CFHL, UCCE team's presentation included four virtual physical activity breaks (brain breaks) demonstrations for lower elementary, upper elementary, middle and high school. The team created a teacher resource list with links to virtual PA videos for the four grade levels.

For any student (and adult), sitting in front of a device to do distance learning is a lot of mental work and students may need a break in the middle of their virtual classes. CFHL, UCCE team showed real life examples of brain break activities appropriate for different age groups. Out of the 230 teachers who responded to the Mentimeter poll, 88% said they are very likely or likely to schedule a physical activity break during their virtual lessons. The Riverside CFHL, UCCE team is grateful for the strong partnership with Alvord Unified (AUSD) which led to this training opportunity and the support of Patti Suppe, CAHPERD President and past AUSD District Wellness Lead. We are hopeful that Alvord students will greatly benefit from the resources shared at this session.

Aldrich Tan, Special Education Teacher at McAuliffe Elementary School shared feedback after the training: “You were amazing! Teachers in the stands loved it and they loved the opportunities to stand up. One teacher said it was the best session of the day.”