Students at Red Deer’s Central Middle School will soon be cultivating leafy greens in a sea container greenhouse.
The Co-op Community Spaces Program is providing $105,000 to help purchase the metal-sided, self-contained greenhouse that will be set up adjacent to the school.
The sea container will showcase new ecological growing and building techniques. Students will learn how to grow leafy greens throughout the year, says Darrin DeMale, principal of Central Middle School.
“We are excited to give students this unique learning opportunity to have access to an eco-friendly indoor farming system. Through the use of innovative technology, like hydroponics, students will be able to grow produce through all four seasons,” DeMale added.
“We are so thankful for the support from such an active community partner.”
The Co-op donation, made through the Red Deer Public School Foundation, will pay for most of the greenhouse’s costs. But about 20 per cent must still be raised in community gifts-in-kind, said the foundation’s executive-director, Bruce Buruma.
Once the greenhouse is purchased through a tendering process, and set up with student involvement over the next school year, Buruma added it will help the young people develop skills they “can use for life.”
Besides learning about eco-food production, Central students will be doing a business plan to figure out how to sell the lettuce they grow to customers, in order to help pay for the Sawing for Schools program.
The sea container greenhouse is the first phase of a new project Central Middle School is embarking upon in partnership with Sawing For Schools — a successful after-school program that pairs students with community mentors in turning scrap wood into furnishings.
The second phase will be raising funds for an outdoor classroom at Central, which will contain a pollinator garden and other features.
The Co-op Community Spaces program is administered by Federated Co-operatives Limited on behalf of more than 180 independent retail co-operatives across Western Canada. It helps supports projects related to environmental conservation, recreation and urban agriculture.
“We’re delighted to see it come to this community and the Red Deer Pubic School Foundation,” said Gerald Hiebert, Chief Executive Officer with Central Alberta Co-op. “By supporting projects like this, we’re helping to build… a vibrant and healthy community.”
This year, 24 organizations will receive a total $2 million. For more information, please visit www.communityspaces.ca.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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