The Sylvia Center

The Sylvia Center is a non-profit organization
located on a 60-acre organic farm in Columbia County.
Our mission is to improve the lives of at-risk children by giving them
the opportunity to connect with nature and learn about nutritious
and healthy eating through joyful hands-on experiences.

The Sylvia Center works in collaboration with other non-profits, school systems and community organizations to enhance their health and nutrition programs.

The Sylvia Center also interacts with students in the NYC school system. Our company chefs, cooks and event professionals create educational experiences in the Great Performances kitchen in Manhattan. We bring these students to the farm when possible

The curriculum demonstrates nutritional principles in a child friendly and enticing fashion. Our working farm and the creativity of our culinary professionals impart to the children a message of appreciation for good food and healthfulness. Elizabeth Fassberg, M.P.H., R.D., has developed our programs for students ages 7-10. Children use their harvest as the foundation for a meal they prepare and share.

The Sylvia Center brings the farm experience into the lives of children in neighboring towns and cities. Through hands on activities at the farm, children learn about freshly grown food - its flavors, textures, seasons – and how it is farmed. The children plant, harvest and taste. They tend to the farm animals – chicken, rabbits, pigs and ducks.

In a time of health crisis for America’s children and the disappearance of home-cooked healthful meals, The Sylvia Center reconnects children, and through them their families, to real foods and real flavors and the joy that comes from cultivating the land.