In today’s urbanized society, few children have the opportunity to know where their food comes from. But at Hollin Meadows Elementary School, a school garden provides enough salad-makings for 900 people at the yearly Thanksgiving lunch—and fresh produce for a local food bank.
The garden has become an integral part of the school’s curriculum at this Title I school. Every class has a garden plot. The smallest kids learn their colors in a rainbow garden. Older children learn about the herbs used to preserve food in the Medieval period.
But community service is also a big part of the garden. Each year, the school raises enough produce to donate lots of fresh vegetables to a local food pantry. They were such great role models, in fact, that a nearby Catholic church has planted their own gardens, citing the Hollin Meadows kids as “mentors.”
On Wednesday, 30 children from Hollin Meadows will make a visit to the White House garden. There, they will speak with the First Lady. This year, there’s a bumper crop of excitement at Hollin Meadows.
The school is actually in David Englin’s district, but most of the kids are from the 44th. We’re both very proud.
You and David should both be proud! What an excellent model of a program that serves so many worthy purposes. I am particularly pleased by community gardens that provide fresh vegetables to local food banks and pantries.
I love that the kids got to be role models for the grown-ups!