Nonprofit Integrates Learning and Nature

The organization operates out of Kitchawan Farm, offering a variety of nature-based programs—including summer workshops, after-school classes and homeschool programs—focused on community service, civics and global environmental issues.

Something Good in the World provides farm-based education that integrates learning and nature. “Our goal is to teach children how to live sustainably and in harmony with nature,” says Barbara Sarbin, director of educational programs for the Ossining-based nonprofit.

The organization operates out of Kitchawan Farm, offering a variety of nature-based programs—including summer workshops, after-school classes and homeschool programs—focused on community service, civics and global environmental issues.

At Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School in Yorktown Heights, Something Good in the World has given seventh graders a firsthand look at the origins of their food through field trips to gardens and farms. Another program enabled students from the Harlem Children’s Zone to travel to Glynwood Farm in Cold Spring to learn about the origins of animal products like butter, cheese and wool. Students from Ossining High School and Manhattanville College have attended workshops in sustainable design, upcycling and creative solutions to environmental problems.

These outdoor experiences are essential for children, Sarbin says, because the future of the planet rests on their shoulders.

“They’re the future policymakers, the future voters,” she says. “They’re the ones who will decide how things happen. So if they learn at a very young age that there’s a great deal of power in how they think, or about how we should treat the environment and nature, then that bodes well for our future.”

For more info, call 914.217.9249, email somethinggooditw@aol.com or visit SomethingGoodInTheWorld.org or Facebook.com/SomethingGoodInTheWorld.