Interest in nature has grown at Edmonton Primary School with an environmental initiative thanks to the Love Your Neighbourhood grant provided by EcoMatters.
The school used the grant money to buy a raised garden bed, known as a veggie pod, so students could experience growing their own plants. It has not only sparked the student’s interest in environmental activities but has also made nature more accessible.
The Love Your Neighbourhood grant is funded by the Henderson-Massey, Whau, Waitākere Ranges and Maungakiekie-Tāmaki local boards and administered by the EcoMatters Environment Trust.
This grant enables local groups to get environmental and volunteer-driven initiatives underway quickly and easily. Grants can be used to help run clean up a local stream or park, community plantings, weeding bees, or for starting gardens, rain-water harvesting or composting systems in community spaces.
“The pod is very important because it means students who are in wheelchairs have access to the garden, because they can reach the plants,” says Margaret Samson, Edmonton School Principal.
She says that the simple activity of growing brought different groups of students in the school together in new ways.
“The kids love it - they are now thinking of starting a nature club or getting the juniors involved too.”
Up to $500 is available for local environmental projects in the Henderson-Massey, Maungakiekie-Tāmaki, Whau or Waitākere Ranges local board areas.
“Making nature accessible through activities and as a part of daily life is a great way for kids to understand the importance and relevance of our natural world,” says Henderson-Massey Local Board Chairperson Chris Carter, a former Conservation and Education Minister under the Clark Government.
“I’m pleased that as a board we’re able to support it along with other local boards in Auckland,” he says.
Find out more and apply at ecomatters.org.nz/loveyourneighbourhood
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