Denver school gardens get boost from Burpee
Jessie Atchison Burpee Home Gardens Brand Manager, 2008-2010
As part of the ‘I Can Grow’ program, we were part of a wonderful event yesterday at Fairview Elementary (a Denver-area public school) to kick off Burpee Home Gardens' donation of 1,000 vegetable and herb plants to 13 Denver-area school and community gardens in partnership with the Denver Urban Gardens (D.U.G.) organization. The 5th grade class that participated in the event could not have been more excited to receive the donation and get little hands dirty in the garden. Here’s a video of them singing a “chopping” song as they used shovels to compost biodegradable pots for their new vegetable garden.
In speaking with the teacher and principal, our team learned that our donation at Fairview will go much farther than the planting event on Wednesday. D.U.G. will continue to work with the students throughout the summer to help them care for the plants and harvest the fruits and vegetables when the time is right. At the garden site, D.U.G. manages a farmers market each Sunday and hires the kids to work as employees, allowing them to earn a small paycheck each week. The teacher we spoke with said many of these kids take this opportunity very seriously, and help support their families by working in the garden. This year there were 32 applicants for 10 employee openings.
These children are well on their way to understanding all the joys and benefits of vegetable gardening!
Some local news media were on-site to cover the event. See the link here. There’s more pictures at our Facebook photo tab. Check it out!