WEST CAPE MAY — The school’s Green Team Coordinator, Dr. Inga La Puma, discovered an emergency in the strawberry patch and approached Lowes to see if they would consider donating to our school gardens so we could make a new bed for the strawberry plants. A manager asked Dr. La Puma to bring in a request on school letterhead for his consideration. Early the next morning, she contacted teacher Karyn Essex and Superintendent Dr. Alfred Savio to ask if this would be possible. Not long after, Dr. La Puma spoke with parent Mark Heany at drop off and asked if he could build a new raised bed, since he had built the other ones. He agreed!
Soon after that Dr. Savio drafted a letter requesting the donated items that were specified by Mr. Heany and Dr. La Puma headed to Lowes to drop it off. At 11:45 a.m. Lowe’s manager Andy Davis called to approve our requests of 3 – 8 foot pieces of wood, 25 bags of organic soil, and two watering cans. We couldn’t believe how fast things were happening! Not long after, he called to say that he would be giving us cedar to go along with our organic gardens and help repel insects naturally.
Dr. La Puma then called Mr. Heany to ask if he could build the box soon because we would have all the materials and he immediately offered to meet at Lowe’s to pick up the materials at 3 p.m. with his van. Several Lowes’ employees helped load the soil and wood including the other manager Eric Speck. Mr. Heany brought all the materials back to school and built the bed frame by 4:30 p.m.
The next morning the 5th and 6th grade class came out to help plant our strawberry bed. First they dumped the soil over a layer of cardboard (to prevent weeds), then they all planted several plants. Many of the students didn’t want to put gloves on and one student said they felt like a Pre-Kindergartener digging in the dirt. Many of the plants have flowers so we talked about how pollinators would help and we are hoping they produce strawberries this year!
We had more than enough soil and are using the rest to supplement our vegetable beds!
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