Hood River County Education Foundation

"It was the best feeling when we saw the excitement and pride on the students faces both when they saw their plants germinate and grow and then again when we were able to harvest and use the ingredients in our end of year salad and salsa. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to purchase items to help further the learning and life skills of our most impacted students."

Environmental Communication Boards were installed at seven Hood River County School District playgrounds to help create accessible and inclusive communication opportunities for all students within our community. These communication boards are intended to assist students of all ability levels with expressing their thoughts and feelings, creating and maintaining meaningful relationships, and making connections with their peers while participating in essential life experiences learned through outdoor play.

"Air, like food, water, and shelter, is critical for survival, and yet we rarely think about it due to its "invisible" nature. Additionally, unlike the other essential items mentioned above, we can't really "pick and choose" which air we breathe. It impacts us all. As such, studying air quality is a fantastic lens through which we can engage students in not only learning about the air, but also chemistry, earth and space science, and how we can be engaged citizens."