Mark DeLay School Plants a Garden

Who Has a Green Thumb?

Mary Andersen—DeLay School

            Do you have a green thumb?  If the answer is no, do not worry.  The first graders and preschoolers at Mark DeLay School sure do!  In a partnership with our local Home Depot, these enthusiastic students have tapped in to their inner gardeners and beautified the school at the same time!

            Home Depot has a program in all of its stores called “Team Depot.” They partner up with different community organizations, like a school, to help them with a specific project.  Past “Team Depot” projects have included playgrounds, home improvements for veterans with disabilities, and projects at Helping Hand, which is a center for children and adults with disabilities.  They are all over!  We also have a local connection right at our school.  Joan Morris, the sister of Brigid Riley, one of our preschool teachers, is the District Manager for Home Depot in the western suburbs.  The Darien location is one of her stores.  Home Depot provided all of the supplies to start a pizza garden, as well as all of the additional labor, at no cost.

            In celebration of Earth Day, Monday, April 22, 2013, “Team Depot” came to Mark DeLay School and helped our wee gardeners clean up the courtyard and plant some seeds in four new planter boxes.  It was “all hands on deck,” as each class got to participate in a special way.

            The hard work was started early in the morning, that day.  The first few classes were working on pulling weeds and clearing out any trash or dead plantings.  The next few classes were working on loading up the planter boxes with new soil.  Later classes were helping to lay the stones for the path.  The final classes were planting the seeds and settling all of the soil.

            The next time you are at Mark DeLay School, take a look at the beautiful garden.  It was a labor of love that helped teach the kids a very easy way to give back to the earth.