This year, Gardening Know How's School and Community Garden Sponsorship Program was fortunate enough to help support 20 gardens with $1,000 each. These gardens represent a wide array of community and school programs, from Florida to Saskatchewan and many places in between. Each has its own unique and powerful story, and we're excited to share them with you. Every other week we'll highlight one of our sponsorship recipients to help spread the word about how amazing they really are. This week we're featuring the Edward Gideon Elementary School.
The Edward Gideon Elementary School is located in the Strawberry Mansion area of Philadelphia, PA, which is considered to be a food desert with 46% of its households living below the poverty line. Gideon is a Community School, meaning it is a public school with a full-time coordinator from the Mayor's office who works closely with the district's entire community to address the needs of students in and out of school. The school is committed to doing what's best for its kids, and one obvious example of that is its school garden.
The defunct Gideon School Garden was rebuilt last year with help from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Philadelphia City Repair, and volunteers from the community. Students grew lettuce, beets, carrots, and swiss chard, as well as native perennial flowers for attracting pollinators. For many of the kids involved, this was their first hands-on interaction with gardening and fresh produce.
The school garden has a huge impact on students, who learn about new foods, new animals, and new concepts all in a natural, healthy environment. With Gardening Know How's help, garden leaders plan to purchase tools students and their families can use whenever they need, plus a compost bin that will double as a useful addition to the garden and a great teaching aid.
With the grant from Gardening Know How, the Edward Gideon Elementary School will be able to set up a more permanent school garden and expand its opportunities to teach kids about the importance of eating healthy and getting their hands dirty. We're proud to be able to help them realize their dream.
-
Bold & Beautiful Festive Bloomers: 6 Christmas Flowering Plants For A Big Holiday Buzz‘Tis the season for celebration and easy living, so make sure your plants are up to it. These dynamic Christmas flowering plants will help you see out the season in style
-
9 Thoughtful Stocking Stuffers For Gardeners – That They’ll Actually UseStocking stuffers often end up an after-thought, but not these! Explore expert-curated stocking stuffers for gardeners that they'll use for years to come.
-
The Grow Garden at GIVE - 2022 Grant RecipientThis alternative school in Georgia is using its garden to teach kids in all new ways.
-
Common Ground Community Garden - 2022 Grant RecipientThis Texas community garden has been getting people out of their apartments and into nature for 12 years.
-
Valley Daycare - 2022 Grant Recipient -
Douglas Discovery Garden – 2022 Grant Recipient -
Ben Franklin Elementary School – 2022 Grant RecipientThis hundred year old garden in Cleveland, Ohio is still going strong with a unique educational program for fourth graders.
-
Kin Park Community Garden - 2022 Grant RecipientRead about the small town in Vancouver that's bringing its people together with fresh produce and garden plots.
-
Elmsdale Community Garden – 2022 Grant RecipientThe Elmsdale Community Garden is striving to bring food security to rural Nova Scotia, one garden bed at a time. Read their story here.
-
Gainesville Giving Garden - 2022 Grant RecipientThe Gainesville Giving Garden was born from a dream of freedom from food insecurity during the height of covid. Read its story here.
