Avon East Courtyard Garden Grows on Community Spirit

It takes a lot of water and sunlight to grow a garden.

In the case of the new Courtyard Garden installed this summer at Avon East Elementary School, it also took the power of community to make the difference!

The garden concept sprouted from the interests of a quiet 7-year student at the school, Will Powell.

His mom, Neely Powell, came up with the idea in conversations with Avon East Principal Erin Holzauer.

“We came together with this idea to create a school garden for all children, including my son, who is a very quiet little boy whose passion is gardening,” says Neely.

“He finds comfort in nature and will open up when asked about plants, animals and insects.”

Both Neely and Mrs. Holzauer know that many children are hands-on learners. All could only benefit from learning in a space like this.

“Plans were big, money was needed so we started smaller and worked inside the existing school courtyard that needed much TLC,” says Neely.

The idea sparked a wave of interest, and the power of the community was mobilized in support of the plans.

“Community members, school maintenance and parents joined together to clean up and provide this space with beautiful plants (butterfly garden), a vegetable garden, herb garden and bird sanctuary,” says Neely.

“The space already has provided a wonderful experience for me, personally. After such a dark year, this space has given me hope.

“Seeing my son, other children, parents, community members, community businesses come together and enjoy the beautiful vegetables, insects, flowers and birds…my heart is full,” adds Neely.

“This project has opened doors for teachers and students to create hands-on learning activities all year.”

School/Community Vision: School gardens offer opportunities for students to integrate every discipline including science, math, reading, nutrition, and health. Young people can experience a deeper understanding of natural systems and become better stewards of the Earth by designing, cultivating and harvesting school gardens with their own hands. This is also an opportunity to provide fresh vegetables to families in the community.

The future plan for the Avon East garden would be located on the south side of the building east of the playground. Planting/growing vegetables to be used as a lesson within the school day (parents facilitate) and the vegetables to be distributed to families in need (Avon East Farmers Market). Working with local farmers and possibly churches/food banks to position the food once harvested.

Donations:

• John Kaminski is a parent in the community and was a true partner in planning, organizing and working countless hours in the garden. “I owe so much to John for his time and knowledge- he is so appreciated,” says Neely.
• J&J Landscaping owner Josh Miller donated 500 and paid for our plants up front (couldn’t have created this without him)
• Moose’s Mission donated a duck house for the ducks that come to the courtyard each year.
• Tammy Holtzmeier family donated a duck house and partnered with the Avon Athletic Boosters to print the large eagle on the house built by resident Jack Gillis.
• Ridge Bridge Farms, Karen donated all of the veggie plants to start our garden and helped to plant them
• Jenny Herbert and family sanded all of the benches and has worked endlessly to make this garden possible
• Ray’s Auto and Truck services donated the stump grinding and all of the tools for the garden (around 1,500)
• Adam Snyder (Snyder Services LCC) donated the power washing to clean the courtyard
• Avon Brownie Girl Scout Troop 50784 donated the bird sanctuary (houses, baths, food)
• Pete from Computer Recycling in Avon donated all of this time to stain the benches and paint the bench stands (many hours)
• Jerry Galant, Vietnam veteran made 5 bird feeders and a beautiful American flag for the garden.
• Shannon Santee donated 300 and all of the stain to paint our many benches
• Geeva Nanda donated the greenhouse and Dr. Chapman and family assembled the greenhouse.
• Senior Girl Scout Giavanna Anamasi completed her silver award by refinishing the picnic tables and painting beautiful designs on them.
• Home Depot donated the soil for the herb garden
• Rebecca Snevel and Tyler Snevel donated the herb garden planter and plants
• Community members have donated 1,600 dollars to pay for the plants

If you would like to donate to the Garden Project please donate at: https://avon-east-garden-club.cheddarup.com

Click here to read the diary of the Avon East Community Garden construction or scroll below the pictures.

Avon East Courtyard Garden Diary

A special shout-out to Tammy Holtzmeier and family and Jack Gillis (Avon resident and creator) for this amazing duck house to add to the garden!! Tammy said that her boys always loved the ducks when they attended East! Also to the Avon Athletic Boosters Eagle Shop for the amazing eagle from their Eagle fundraising project! We are so excited for the East duck families to see their new home in the spring ? Thank YOU! ??

We would also like to give a special thank you to Giavanna Anamasi for refinishing the picnic tables for her senior Girl Scout silver award project- troop 50685. The tables are amazing and the kids were so exited to see the beautiful colors in the garden! Once again, the community involvement in this project gives me goosebumps. Looking forward to growing this project even bigger! Stay tuned for updates ? Thank YOU Avon ?

Avon East Garden Update ? So many exciting additions to the garden! Thank you so much Lauren Carlin Chapman family for putting this amazing greenhouse together donated by Geeva Nanda. We are so blessed. This family worked so hard to put this together!! Thank you Jessica Walrath, co leader of the Avon Brownie Girl Scout Troop 5078 for creating this amazing bird sanctuary. The girls brought decorated feeders and houses and bird feeders with seed. They used their hard earned cookie money to make this happen. This was a fun day watching the girls set this up. Thank you! Finally, thank you Tyler Snevel family for the beautiful herb garden planter and herbs. This will be a wonderful addition for kids to touch and smell the herbs! We also appreciate Home Depot for donating the soil to make our herbs grow. This space is ready for students and teachers and we hope to keep growing. The teachers are creating a wish list for educational resources such as a weather station for the garden. We are always open to ideas – please email willsgarden32@gmail.com. We are so appreciative of the donations and look forward to sharing the progress and new additions. Thank you Avon

Today was such an amazing day.. my heart might explode with the amount of gratitude that I am feeling about this community. Thank you to all of the amazing families that showed up today and to the families that donated money- we couldn’t have done this without you! A special thank you to Rays Auto and Truck Service for donating the beautiful gardening tools and for paying for the stump grinding that made our work possible. A very heartfelt thank you to Jerry Galant Judy Galant for the handmade birdhouses and beautiful flag for our garden. Jerry is a Vietnam Veteran and we thank him for his service and for his beautiful craftsmanship. We also had a famous arborist on deck- John Palmer. Another very special thank you to John Kaminski for your dedication and hard work to this project. Heart is full- thank you Avon!!

Avon East Garden update ☀️?  So incredibly blessed to have the benches finished and installed. Pete Computer Recycling Ohio, we are so grateful for your hard work painting the stands and staining the benches Shannon Santee, thank you for purchasing the stain, supplies and donation. Thank you, Linda Jacobs, for the beautiful umbrella. We also had a container donation to build an herb garden and plan to put that together this week. Tomorrow our greenhouse is going up thanks to Lauren Carlin Chapman and family. We are hoping to purchase a weather center and if anyone has another umbrella and/or stand please let me know ☂️ Thanks everyone ??