While President Obama toured the New Jersey coastline, kids affected by Hurricane Sandy got their hands dirty in the White House garden Tuesday helping out Michelle Obama.
Selected students from Union Beach Memorial School of Union Beach, NJ, and Long Beach Island Grade School of Ship Bottom, NJ, were invited to help harvest the summer crop from the White House Kitchen Garden. Some kids sported t-shirts saying “Unite” or “Rebuild.”
Displaced after the superstorm last October, these children have been attending classes at other locations while their communities repair their schools.
“We’re very proud of you,” said the first lady, complimenting the kids for maintaining healthy eating habits and going to school during this challenging period.
The White House turned its attention to the Hurricane Sandy rebuilding effort in full force this week, as President Obama toured post-Sandy cleanup of the Jersey Shore Tuesday with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
“The Jersey Shore is back in business, but work’s not over, though,” President Obama told a crowd in Asbury Park, NJ. “Part of the reason I wanted to come back here was not just to send a message to New Jersey, but send a message to folks in Oklahoma–when we make a commitment that we’ve got your back, we mean it.”
The first lady referred to the president’s trip. “We’ve got some new friends here from schools in New Jersey, because today the president, he left me to go to your state to visit with your governor,” Mrs. Obama told the kids. “And we thought, well, since he’s going to be there, wouldn’t it be good to have some schools from New Jersey here with us.”
Students from Vermont, Tennessee and Massachusetts, who planted part of the garden back in April, also returned to the White House to see the fruits of their labors.
The first lady planted a veggie garden on the South Lawn as part of her Let’s Move! initiative aimed at the problem of child obesity.
Sarah Muller