Our People: Lauren

As a vibrant people person with a passion for helping others, it’s no wonder that Dunedin-based Lauren Jarvie feels right at home in her role as Programme Manager for Garden to Table.

Between her kind-hearted nature, relatable sense of humour, and strong Southernisms, she never fails to liven up our team meetings.

Recently, we sat down with Lauren to deep-dive into her Garden to Table story, so that we could share a little bit of her magic with you.

For Lauren, her family has always been a huge source of inspiration.

“Many of them have worked in education and have made a wonderfully positive impact through their work”.

This filtered down to Lauren - and she soon found a love for working alongside inspiring people, learning, and being part of positive change.

In the past, this saw Lauren work in project management, community development for local government, and within management roles in the health and sports sectors.

Today, Lauren is Garden to Table’s Programme Manager for the South.

Initially, Lauren was drawn to Garden to Table because of our fresh approach to food education. 

“It was inspiring to see Garden to Table’s focus on delicious food, solutions, and fun! I was excited by the idea that children can be empowered to love great food, that they acquire all the skills they need to do this for themselves, and that it can be exciting, delicious and rewarding. It is an optimistic and empowering programme where we can imagine a world where all children can grow and cook their own food”.  

Her first visit to a local Garden to Table school is a memory that she holds onto fondly.    

“In the garden, the children knew how to grow veges from start to finish, they understood the processes, the equipment and the environment. Then, witnessing the children cooking their beautiful produce blew me away as well, whole classes of primary school children understanding recipes, cooking methods and how to prepare delicious food”. 

“I remember my first visit to a Garden to Table programme. I believe if everyone witnessed a Garden to Table programme in action, it would be an essential part of every school in our country”

In her current role, Lauren oversees our Southern-based team of Regional Coordinators (from Hawkes Bay to Bluff) - empowering them to support schools in their local area to deliver the Garden to Table programme.

At the moment, Lauren and her fellow Programme Manager, Louise Waghorn, have been planning ahead and finding ways to support and enable Garden to Table’s recent growth.

“We live in a changing world, and as adults, we have a responsibility to share the magic of the world, and to show children the joy and excitement of things like the changing seasons, the incredible world of insects, the wonder of a seedling, and the deliciousness of good food”

When we asked Lauren about the most satisfying project she’s working on at the moment, she says it’s identifying and working with Model Schools. These schools motivate and influence other schools, by demonstrating the best example of Garden to Table in action within their region.

“All of our Garden to Table schools are extraordinary, including our Model Schools, who readily open their doors and welcome other interested schools in to see their Garden to Table programme in action. We are currently identifying new Model Schools, to ensure everyone has access to see this amazing programme”. 

Welcoming our southernmost school (Halfmoon Bay School in Oban, Stewart Island) to the Garden to Table community has been another recent highlight.

Looking ahead, Lauren is excited to continue enabling even more schools from across the motu to join our programme.

“Garden to Table has captured the magic of food for children. This programme provides inspiring solutions to many of today’s challenges and I am deeply proud to be alongside the team”

Ngā mihi nui, Lauren - we are so grateful for all your incredible mahi, and consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have you as part of our whānau.