McKinley Elementary School

Our first goal is to get every child in the garden every year. As of now, 1/3 of the classrooms are actively utilizing the garden, and we'd like to see that participation rate increase dramatically so that every student is getting an opportunity to understand where their food comes from. To do so, we'll be looking to increase our garden space by adding garden beds in the current location and installing garden beds closer to the Kindergarten and Pre-School area. We have found that one challenge some teachers face is the distance they must travel to the garden, and have stated that if there were one closer, they would be more inclined to utilize the garden for lessons. We anticipate that this grant would also be utilized to purchase a small greenhouse, bird netting to protect new plantings and additional materials to help repair and rebuild our current composting system. We have zero funds available from the school district and zero funds currently available through our PTA.