A little more goodness will be growing alongside Riwaka School’s students, who were the winners of the Mitre 10 Motueka greenhouse giveaway last month.
The store offered up the prize after the recent flooding, asking for nominations for an affected charity or community group. Their announcement explains that they received many heartfelt nominations, “but Riwaka School stood out with their inspiring plans to use the greenhouse as a tool for hands-on learning, supporting their Garden to Table programme, and giving back to the local community”.
Riwaka was hit hard by the floods, and principal Adele Lingard says the school has continued to utilise donations to support the community with items like food, vouchers and firewood.
When she saw the Mitre 10 competition, she thought it was the perfect way to bring the vision of Connection to Community, using a garden that could teach the life skills of growing food, while supplementing the food parcels that they deliver.
“It ties in with our school’s subscription to Garden to Table, our involvement with EnviroSchools, and our school curriculum concept of Sustain,” she says, calling it “a win-win for everyone”.
Stevee Rhind, who teaches the school’s Pukekoikoi new entrant class, says the teachers are keen to imbed the garden-to-table ethos in their lessons, with the hope that the wider community can also benefit. The greenhouse prize, valued at more than $10,000, will open opportunities that fit both the local curriculum and tie into “where we live, and all its horticulture and farming”.
