FAIRFIELD, Ala. (WBRC) – A Fairfield elementary school is growing more than vegetables this year. Glen Oaks Intermediate School is one of the first schools in the country selected to receive a Shipt and Target Garden Grant, and the money is going straight into a garden students already use as an outdoor classroom.
Glen Oaks was awarded $6,000 as part of the grant’s “Garden Expansion” category, one of 13 Birmingham-area recipients in this year’s first cohort. The Garden Grant program is a joint initiative from Shipt and Target designed to support new gardens, garden expansions and garden restorations in metro areas across the country.
“We found out this summer that we received the grant, and we were so excited to hear that we were one of the first cohorts, actually, along with some of the other schools in the surrounding area, to have received this grant,” said Dr. Nikia Holston, principal at Glen Oaks Intermediate.
Holston said the school has run a community school garden for years, and the grant will help pay for tools and supplies the garden needed…