To enrich students' learning experience through nature and to give the surrounding community of Paradise an outdoor garden area to enjoy, Jack & Jill Nursery School received $800 in funding from Toyota Evergreen Learning Grounds, a national program that helps create inviting, dynamic school grounds with diverse natural features. This funding, added to four years of school fundraising, a grant from Bridgetown Community Fund, and the Town of Bridgetown helped Jack & Jill’s Green Area dream come alive.
Since 2000, Toyota Canada and Evergreen have partnered to bring school communities
together to create natural and creative outdoor classrooms. Jack & Jill’s Green Area will include children-friendly plants and flowers with soil areas rich for digging and bug watching. A grassy area leaves room for the children to run and play, while a wheelchair-friendly path invites everyone to join in and enjoy this outdoor space.
On October 7, Rhea Dawn, an Evergreen employee, came out to the school to help volunteers break ground and start this exciting project. With a huge donation of a mini excavator and operator (Brian McLean) from Spicer Construction Ltd., ground was broken and the planting began.
Special help came in the form of two visitors from Ontario, Brigitte and Richard Kelly, who arrived and worked hard all day wheel-barrowing dirt away from the Green Area. John Ray and Jennifer Lawrence were also on hand with Sarah and Cole Medicraft to get this long-awaited project started.
“We are so excited to have our Green Area started,” says Jennifer Lawrence, Jack & Jill board president. “Having this boost from Toyota Evergreen Learning Grounds, and having them send out Rhea to point us in the right direction really has made our dreams a reality.”
More work to the Green area will follow in the Spring, with the addition of seating and flower beds.
“We would welcome the community to come and see our progress,” says Sarah Medicraft, a board member. “Without their support of all our fundraising over the last four years, none of this would have been possible.”
