PMPS students donate to the Food Bank during 1st week of school
September 11, 2023
ORANGEVILLE, Ontario – The first week of school is always a busy one for students and staff, but that didn’t stop the Princess Margaret Public School (PMPS) garden club from harvesting food for the Orangeville Food Bank.
For seven years, PMPS has been operating the Nurturing Hands Community Learning Garden, which has 12 garden beds. Three of the garden beds are grown for the school, one is grown for the Orangeville Food Bank and the remaining eight garden beds are grown by various community members who have children that attend the school.
The PMPS garden club meets weekly to do whatever work needs to be done in the gardens that are on the school grounds, including the pollinator garden, butterfly garden and the vegetable garden.
Members of the garden club are very keen and often give up extra time during nutrition breaks to help teacher Kimberley Ellis with whatever the garden may need. When the garden club needs help with larger jobs like moving the soil and mulch, there’s always a class happy to lend a hand.
Harvested fruit and vegetables for the school are put on snack trays and are delivered to classrooms during the day. Harvested food for the Orangeville Food Bank is driven to the food bank. If the harvest is big enough, as was the case one year with a potato harvest, the food bank sends a truck to pick up the donation.
PMPS students absolutely love working in the garden and making a difference for their community. According to one student, “I love doing this! This is so much fun.”
Congratulations to the students and staff on keeping this garden healthy and ready to harvest!
Categories: Spotlight On Schools