Vernon groups unite to provide elementary school students will resources to grow their own veggies

Photo: Contributed

When Pat Broschart saw all of the empty shelves in Vernon grocery stores earlier this year, it got him thinking.

The shortage was due to washouts on Interior highways disrupting the supply chain, but there could be many other reasons for such a shortage.

Broschart knew he wanted to do something and that was to help children learn how to grow their own food.

To do that, Broschart enlisted the aid of the Men's Shed Vernon and North Okanagan Optimist's Club.

The Men's Shed did what they do best, they grabbed some tools and built wooden boxes students could use to grow vegetables.

The boxes were made from reclaimed wood that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill.

The NOOC was approached to see if they would be willing to fund this project, which they did as the club motto is “Bringing out the best in kids, communities and ourselves.”

Coldstream Elementary School Principal Colline Johnson was delighted with the opportunity that was presented to the school.

The life lesson of growing vegetables fit right in with the learning the students have been doing on composting and talking care of the environment and aving access to gardening will further enhance their understanding of everything from the basic needs of plants to food sustainability around the world.

School District 22 contributed to the project as well by supplying casters, enabling the beds to be moved outside.

This green project also got the Men’s Shed Vernon thinking of other ways on how to reduce waste and reuse materials and they found numerous ideas and resources on RDNO’s Rethink Waste webpage.