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Granny's
Garden School
Keeping kids
in touch with nature
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| David
Neff's
Eagle
Scout Projects, spring 2003 |
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 1.
The
Greater Cincinnati Foundation funded a project to purchase two grow
labs. The grow lab grant proposal called for four teachers to work
on the project. Two volunteers were recruited to develop the project.
Anita Winning, a former teacher and Jennifer Jennings, a pharmacist and
assistant professor. They were told what the project was about (growing
herbs from seed to plant in a new herb garden) and asked them to develop
the program, and they did. The grow labs from
The Greater Cincinnati
Foundation grant were the catalyst for the development of a grow lab
project that led to much bigger things and grew into a program that
involved a dozen teachers by the second year. |
 Planting
the herbs
2. On the way to qualifying for Eagle Scout a candidate
must design, organize and complete a significant community service project.
It must be something that has staying power. Paula Cirone was an advisor
for Boy Scouts working to qualify for the Eagle Scout badge. She
emailed Roberta Paolo, asking if there might be a possibility for such
a project with the garden program. This set the wheels turning. A
few couple of weeks later, David Neff, an Eagle Scout candidate contacted
Roberta. She told him she would like a learning center in front of
the primary school. As the plan evolved, it came to include a large
work table and enough benches for 40-50 students, plus four bridges and
an herb garden. When advisors told him the project was way beyond what
he needed to qualify for Eagle Scout, David said he was up to the challenge
and went to work on the plans. |
Jennifer Jennings and Anita Winning being
recognized by Mayor Donna Lajcak
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The Hilton folks with David Neff, Granny
and
principal Kyle Bush
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3. A few weeks later, Peter Johnson, General Manager
of the
Hilton
Garden Inn came to tour the
gardens. Roberta told him about the herb garden/learning center project
and he agreed to sponsor it. The Hilton purchased the material to
build the learning center and bridges and paid for seeds, pots and soil
to grow the herbs. The mimi grant from The Greater Cincinnati
Foundation paid for the Grow Labs for the four classes to grow the
herbs. David Neff designed the table, benches and bridges and layout
of the herb garden. Mid April, he brought in other Scouts and parents
and organized the clearing of the garden area, the building of all the
components and spread the mulch. The center was dedicated May 2.
The dedication included all of the 100 children who participated in the
growlab project coming out with their teachers to plant their herbs in
the garden with the help of the Boy Scouts and staff from the Hilton Garden
Inn. This led to partnering on a number of other projects with the
Hilton. |
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