More local students will have an opportunity to get their hands dirty as the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District plans to expand its community garden program this year.
Albion, Harry Hooge, and Maple Ridge elementary schools will all be receiving new community gardens this spring, as will Pitt Meadows secondary, and will be paid for with grant funding.
Glenwood, Blue Mountain, and Pitt Meadows elementary schools already have community gardens, as well as Maple Ridge and Westview secondary.
The School Neighbourhood Gardens project began in 2006 with the building of the first garden at Glenwood elementary, and was “designed to engage school children and their neighbourhood in learning about the environment and nutrition.”
Glenwood principal Jovo Bikic said his school’s garden gives students a chance to learn that food doesn’t always have to come pre-packaged and processed.
“The kids get access to the food they plant themselves,” he said. “They cook it themselves, and they get to see where their food actually comes from.
Christine DiGiamberardine is the District of Maple Ridge’s neighbourhood development coordinator, hopes the gardens will help build connections between the community and the schools.
“We want to encourage people in the neighbourhood to be involved to help them be sustainable,” said DiGiamberardine. “People have different resources, different knowledge, and different contacts.”
This project is supervised by a steering committee made up of School District No. 42, the CEED Centre, Parks and Leisure Services, Fraser Health Authority, Canadian Cancer Society, the Haney Farmers Market Society and others.
The committee will be providing training to teachers offering them ideas how they can incorporate the gardens into their lesson plans.