York Guardian
February 7, 2008

Gardening Club Grows On Local Children

Initiative Gives Kids Insight into Local Environment

BY CLARK KIM

The winter is apparently no reason for two local gardening clubs to stop meeting. Students in the Lambton Park Community School gardening club have been getting together twice a week during their lunch hour since the beginning of the school year.

They’ve started to take care of the indoor garden area at the Bernice Crescent school, said Tori Smith, one of the teachers supervising the 20 kids from grades 1 to 6.

They’ve also learned the value of recycling and composting, said Smith, who hoped that each student will become more environmentally friendly and aware.

“We want to have them show the rest of the school,” she said.

To show what other kids across the country have done to improve the environment, Smith brought the gardening club to the Sunlight Eco-Action Kids Awards event Thursday morning held at the local Wal-Mart where the young finalists were announced.

Some of them promoted energy conversation and others put recycling into practice at home and at school. One girl formed a anti-idling group, awarding drivers with stickers for not idling while parked.

Grade 4 Lambton Park student Beza Wondiyfraw said she’s looking forward to doing her part for the environment as she and her friends in the gardening club made recyclable bird feeders out of milk cartons.

“In the summertime, we’re going to the hydro field and cleaning up,” said Beza, who’s already had some prior experience. “A couple of years ago, I did that with my friends.”

Another gardening club in the Mount Dennis community meets every Wednesday after school to grow plants at a garden site by an apartment building near Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue.

Resident Carl Wiese started the club in June 2006 to engage the children in the underserved neighbourhood through gardening.

“When they go home and see the beautiful plant they’ve grown from scratch, that makes them feel better,” Wiese said. “It lifts their spirits.”

He recently partnered with the Arts for Children (AFC) that allowed kids to participate in a painting workshop where they decorated garden-themed flowerpots.

AFC artist Jennifer Chin, who taught the neighbourhood children to use their creativity, said all the kids involved with the gardening club had a great time.

“It’s really fantastic. He’s (Carl) formed a real community,” Chin said. “It was hard to get them out of the room. They were really excited about it.”

The next activity will be to grow vegetables as soon as the weather permits.