Growing vegetables for our community
In the early spring of 2019 our garden received a grant from the Montgomery County Public Health Department to grow vegetables for the food bank and our community. This was our largest grant yet and such an honor for us. We had 9 teachers and classrooms of students who couldn’t wait to get planting. We started right away with seeds for cold crops, and before the students went home for summer break, we had already harvested and shared several pounds of food with our families. Fortunately, we had a community partnership with Tate & Lyle for this grant, because they were instrumental in helping us build the infrastructure needed to support the increase in vegetable production.
They were also an invaluable resource in reinforcing our gate and surrounding fence with steel vs aluminum, which stopped the vandalism that was happening about every weekend. They even donated snacks for the master gardener classes we hosted, and for the volunteers who would come and help maintain the garden over the summer.
The devastating memorial day tornados hit within blocks of our school
and in June, the food bank came to provide our community with food. Thanks to the help of 7 volunteers who came out to help, we were able to provide almost 52 pounds of fresh vegetables to our neighbors.
Throughout that spring, summer, and fall, we were excited to share almost 125 pds of food from the garden with our school families and community. At our open house in the fall, we allowed families to come and pick from the garden, with over 25 pds of vegetables and flowers going home on that evening alone.
