Patrick Springs Primary School has been awarded a $1,000 grant in the Community Greening and Beautification Category. The KVB grant program focuses greater resources and attention on individual localities throughout the Commonwealth and how they are addressing the issues of litter prevention, recycling, waste reduction, beautification and education. In honor of Earth Month, Keep Virginia Beautiful (KVB) is awarding “30 Grants In 30 Days” in April, 2011.
Patrick Springs Primary School will use the KVB grant to continue to improve and expand their Bowl of Lettuce School Garden. This garden is a hands on learning garden for Patrick Spring’s mentally and physically handicapped students that work alongside their K-5 counterparts. The school, teachers, and community have really gotten behind this garden with community involvement at an all-time high. This garden was started as a way to give the students hands on experience with growing their own foods, improving their nutrition through eating organically grown foods, reducing school and home waste by composting leftovers and to include education in botany and plant life cycles. Goals for this ongoing project are: (1) Students will continue to grow veggies of their choice, such as: tomatoes, corn lettuce, cucumbers, green beans, peas and potatoes, (2) A visit to Royal Oaks Farm in Bedford, VA, which is the largest composting facility in VA, and students will get to observe composting of: vegetables, wood, paper and animal waste, (3) A gardening workshop for parents so that families can continue gardening at home year round, and (4) finally a student/parent celebration with students serving their families ” a bowl of lettuce” grown from their organic garden. For more information on Patrick Springs Primary School and their project, please contact Minnie Moore at 276-694-6518 or [email protected].
KVB provided the opportunity for government, non-profit and/or service organizations in Virginia to apply for one of (30) $1,000 grants in three different categories: 10 grants for plastic bag reduction and recycling, 10 grants for cigarette litter prevention, and 10 grants for community greening and beautification. These grants are made possible by KVB’s partners, Walmart and Waste Management.
The mission at Keep Virginia Beautiful is to engage and unite Virginians to improve our natural and scenic environment. Our goals include becoming the leading statewide voice, providing a framework for improved communication and collaboration, cultivating and supporting sustainable programs, and engaging citizens by linking them to volunteer opportunities and information through these 5 impact areas: Litter Prevention, Waste Reduction, Recycling,Beautification, and Environmental Education.
We got a great suite of photos from Minnie Moore at Patrick Springs Primary School. (You can view them here) The kids at Patrick Springs are growing a “Bowl of Lettuce” school garden and are expanding it to include tomatoes, corn, peas, potatoes, and all kinds of nutritious veggies. While the project has been going on for a couple of years the grant money from Keep Virginia Beautiful seems to be kicking it up a notch!
