The gardens return

KILAUEA — After one year of having no gardens, the North Shore Lions Club spearheaded a service project to create raised beds — one for each class — for the Kilauea Elementary School Saturday.

“This is so exciting to have the school garden re-installed,” said Sherry Gonzalves, Kilauea School principal. “We went through a year with no garden, and to have the Lions club step forward to create this garden for the school is something the students have to look forward to when they come back in the fall.”

Conrad Schmidt of the North Shore Lions said this is the second garden they’ve created for a school, the first being for Hanalei Elementary School last year.

Schmidt said the service project is being done under the Weinberg Foundation Friends program. In exchange for the work being done for Kilauea School with nearly four dozen adult volunteers, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation will provide a $10,000 grant to the Church of the Pacific food pantry, the beneficiary selected by the North Shore Lions.

Gonzalves said it was heartwarming to see the many different service groups coming together for the Kilauea School children.

Among the volunteers, representatives from the Rotary Club of Hanalei Bay, the Zonta Club of Hanalei, the North Shore Community Foundation, the Church of the Pacific food pantry, and the Kilauea School PTSA formed the work corps which assembled and filled the beds in time to beat the rising heat and humidity.

“The beds are made of synthetic material which make it resistant to the rot,” Schmidt said. “The soil was donated by Mark Freedman of Heart and Soul Organics, and the Kilauea School PTSA paid for the Trex material which form the beds.”

Gonzalves said the gardens will be worked into the gardening curriculum where students learn about growing vegetables for nutrition, and having a healthy lifestyle.