Life Time Foundation Grows Healthu Futures

Jun 19

On April 24, Arbor Day, Life Time Foundation volunteers joined Miami-Dade County Public School students for the third consecutive year for a day of planting, learning, and community partnership. Together, volunteers and students gathered in The Education Fund Food Forest at Lake Stevens Elementary School to plant trees and herbs, including calamondin, bay rum, moujean tea, and lemon verbena.

These new plantings help expand the school's tree canopy, create shade for outdoor learning spaces, support pollinators and biodiversity, and provide fresh fruits and herbs that will benefit students and families for years to come.

To support this work in 2026 , Life Time Foundation awarded a $75,000 grant to The Education Fund, helping sustain Lake Stevens Elementary's food forest and 30 additional school food forests across Miami-Dade County Public Schools. This initiative is the perfect blend of all three of our focus areas: Healthy Planet, Youth Nutrition, and Youth Movement.

At Life Time Foundation, we believe every child deserves access to healthy outdoor spaces where they can learn, play, and thrive. These school food forests provide opportunities for students to get outside and stay active while serving as living classrooms where they engage in hands-on learning about nutrition, sustainability, environmental stewardship, and the importance of urban forests and tree canopy.

“One thing I love about the food forest is picking the fruits from the trees or from the ground. One fruit that I love picking and watching grow is the bananas. Currently, there are about five banana flowers growing. I can't wait for all the bananas we're going to have and how many we're going to get to pick and eat.” — Noah, Lake Stevens Elementary Student

Life Time Foundation's ongoing support of Food Forests for schools helps bring hands-on science, math, nutrition, and resilience education to thousands of Miami-Dade County Public Schools students each year. To date Life Time Foundation has given $200K in support of this program.

Together with our partners and supporters, we are planting more than trees. We are helping grow the next generation of scientists, healthcare professionals, environmental leaders, and community changemakers.