The future is plant-based and KING Charter Schools is working hard to make that a reality.

KING Charter Schools aspires to be the first public plant-based school in the world. KING’s mission is to promote beliefs of kindness, love and compassion to all living beings: people, animals, and plants, and it hopes to open its plant-based and planet-friendly public school by 2021.

The name KING offers dual inspirational meanings. First is an acronym for the following: Khushi (meaning “happy” in Hindi), Immersion (refers to immersing students in multiple languages), and Natural Garden (indicates students will learn how to care for the earth). Second is an homage to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the infamous advocate for building relationships to make the world a more peaceful place. The school will model organizational behaviors on the standards set by Dr. King.

KING’s first location is to open in Tampa Bay, Florida, and its goal is to teach children compassion through a plant-based meal program and curriculum. By nourishing the minds and bodies of future generations, the school believes that education is the key to making a significant impact when it comes to safe-guarding the environment, animals, and health. In addition to educating children, the school will offer plant-based after-school programs targeting parents and community members.

Aside from eating healthy food, the children will also learn the benefits of a plant-based diet through nutrition programs and curriculum.

Through a comprehensive curriculum created by a former employee of the Florida Department of Education, students will learn compassion toward each other and animals, as well as immersing them in a trilingual language program (English, Mandarin, and Spanish). This program, open to vegans and non-vegans alike, and open to children of all socio-economic backgrounds will not only advance them intellectually, but equip them with the proper tools that will empower them, as well as their families and friends, as they move into adulthood.

It’s been scientifically proven that a plant-based diet lowers the risk of heart disease and obesity and, with ever- growing child obesity rates, it is important to instill healthy habits at an early age, thus ensuring those habits are carried throughout their lives. The cafeteria intends to serve all sustainably sourced vegan meals, providing the children a daily diet that will energize their bodies and brains.

And KING plans to extend these concepts into everyday lesson plans. It is alarming to learn how often animal abuse is depicted in most average curriculums. For example, when teaching the alphabet, Yolk is used for Y, Zoo for Z, and Circus for C. Images such as these may appear harmless, but they instill young and impressionable brains the notion that animals are meant for selfish or monetary purposes. It normalizes the negative treatment of animals and creates beliefs that are hard to break as they mature. By allowing children to develop compassion toward animals when they are young, the cycle of poor health and harming animals and the planet will eventually be broken.

The school is very close to being approved, but needs to raise funds to prove to the Pinellas County School Board that KING can sustain itself, meaning hire teachers and a principal, order equipment, and other administrative items, before the school opens in 2021. You have the power to make KING Charter possible by donating to its cause at www.gofundme.com/kingpbchallenge and by sharing the news of this cutting-edge new school.

The benefits of a globally healthy and compassionate population are incalculable, so invest in a plant-based school and make a plant-based world a reality!