Bolingbrook School Wins Grant for Edible Garden

Jane Addams has received a Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation Toolbox for Education grant for $5,000 that will be used to update the Bolingbrook middle school’s edible garden.

“We’re ecstatic,” said Addams School Nurse Denise Sarpy, who applied for the grant. “It’s like finding a needle in a haystack because so many schools apply for these grants. We’re very fortunate.”

The grant will be used to not only improve the garden’s esthetics but also to make the garden accessible for wheel chair bound students, staff and community.

“The garden should be accessible to kids who are wheelchair dependent,” Sarpy said. “Right now the surface is all grass and it gets muddy and it is difficult to push a wheelchair through it.”

Located on the school’s southwest side, the garden was among the first edible gardens in Valley View School District 365U. It produces tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, spinach, and different types of fruit which are eaten by Addams students at lunchtime.

Addams Garden Club members have been busy preparing the garden for spring plantings. With the grant, Sarpy hopes to be able to plant some fruit trees, install more benches and put in a paved walking path.

“It’s going to take some time and we’re going to need the help of lots of people outside the building,” Sarpy said.