Our Lady Star of the Sea School

Our Lady Star of the Sea School has set up ambitious goals for student body. The majority of these ambitions rely on having a functioning and bountiful garden.The grant will help our school to realize many goals. The main objectives will be curriculum based as well as nutrition focused. Currently, we do not have a school lunch program. With the grant money, we will be able to further develop our pilot garden program towards a sustainable, self-sufficient operation. Specifically, the money will be used towards development of beds for year round harvest to include in our lunch program with the goal of sourcing one full serving of fruit or vegetables directly from our garden. With abundant harvest our students will learn how to use their excess garden goods in practical ways. We will either store and preserve items, or sell them at market and generate revenue to purchase food items not found in our garden. Hosting a Farmer's Market will engage the community and provide the children with the opportunity to learn how to operate a business; making them entrepreneurs. By including our garden in the lunch program and by hosting a Farmer's Market, in essence, the school will revolve around the garden. Although we don't have the financial assistance from local governments to operate the school, in a way that gives us the freedom to create a uniquely organic garden that can not only grow healthy produce, but can also foster and nurture ideas that can set an example for the surrounding communities; a model of nutritional commerce. We want our ideas to evolve with the garden as the focus. In summary, the grant will provide us with the tools to aid us in realizing our "Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds" concept.