Sprouts Farmers Market is seeking submissions from Dallas schools to score their own free garden.

The Arizona-based grocery chain is offering to build school gardens in 24 cities across the U.S., one per city, and is inviting community members to nominate their favorite school.

Only schools located in states where Sprouts has stores will be considered.

UPDATE 8-30-2023: Mitchell Elementary School in Dallas was selected to receive a new school garden as part of the Sprouts Foundations’ 24 Gardens in 24 Hours in 24 Communities campaign – a $500,000 investment in local schools across the country for nutrition education. Selected schools receive a $15,000-$20,000 construction grant to build a new learning garden or refresh an existing garden space on campus.

The garden will be built by volunteers on Saturday Sept. 23.

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The program is part of Sprouts' initiative to get kids involved in healthy food, including growing vegetables at school and then learning how to prepare them in cooking classes.

The application is available to parents, teachers, faculty, or any adult with a personal connection to their nominee, whether that’s a personal relationship or just status as a neighbor.

Criteria include:

• Familiarity with the school’s current practices
• Merit: Why does the school deserve a garden
• A commitment to outdoor learning
• Identification of a caretaker who can oversee and maintain the garden

The deadline to apply is April 26, at sprouts.com.

They'll announce winners in July, then organize a volunteer day to build the gardens in each city on Saturday, September 16.

Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation has been pursuing this goal at schools and via community grants since 2015. The resulting programs have taught more than 1.5 million kids about gardening, and 900,000 in schools about nutrition.

There are currently 27 Sprouts locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area including four recent openings within the past year at Las Colinas, Grand Prairie, Dallas / Hillside Village, and Dallas Trinity Mills.