A group of Chilliwack high school students and staff are pushing to raise the last amount of money needed to build a greenhouse which will not only help the students, but the community in more ways than one.
Sardis Secondary School has been tirelessly raising money for an off-campus tunnel greenhouse over the last seven years. They are about $60,000 away from their goal of $200,000.
One way the public can contribute is during the school's 41st annual Mother's Day Plant Sale set for May 10.
The greenhouse will be built at the five-acre Sardis Secondary Farm – about two kilometres northwest of the school – where students have been growing produce for years. They're looking at a 30-feet-wide-by-80-feet-long, double-poly, high-tunnel, controlled-temperature greenhouse.
Joe Massie with the school's agriculture program said the greenhouse will benefit the community in several ways.
Not only do high school kids in the agriculture program take home produce from the garden, but so do middle school and elementary kids. Some schools have gardens at Sardis Secondary Farm, plus other kids take part in agricultural summer camps there. About 300 students of all ages, and their families, get food donated to them for participating in these programs.
Sardis also has a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, which allows the public and organizations to buy shares into the farm where they get a weekly bin of fresh vegetables.
And then there's Plant a Row For Us, a food-security program where the students plant extra produce which is later donated to the food bank.
They produce a lot of food already at the farm and an added greenhouse would allow them to produce even more, Massie added.
Although the greenhouse itself costs about $50,000, it's the added costs like levelling the site, digging electrical and gas lines, excavating, bringing in gravel, building the foundation and drainage that bring the cost so much higher.
“On top of that, all these things require different types of engineering or city approval to do, so the costs build up substantially,” Massie said.
They have received financial grants over the years from organizations like the Chilliwack Foundation, Joiner's Estate, BC Greenhouse Growers' Association and local Rotary clubs.
They've also been given a good chunk of money each year from the Chilliwack School District. Every year, the school is given money from the district to put towards capital expenses of various kinds. The school then decides, based on requests from teachers, what projects that capital money will go towards.
The ag program has been requesting funds for the greenhouse, and they've been getting approved for years.
“We’ve been continuously putting aside $10,000 a year,” Massie said.
Fellow ag teacher Tania Toth said the greenhouse will open up more learning and growing possibilities all year long.
"We are so excited about our programs here at the school and the ones that continue into our district Summer School learning. We are year-round now, and this expansion will allow us to continue to do the good work with students," she said. "We are excited about all of the learning possibilities this opens up, return of the hothouse veggie production, vertical growing, propagation techniques, and more."
In addition to financial donations, the school is hoping companies can make in-kind donations, or offer to do work at a discounted rate, to help lower the costs of the project.
Massie said there's another way the community benefits from the experience the students get in the ag program.
“When it comes to these students entering the workforce, impacting their friends and the people around them, they start to make different food choices," he said.
The students "think about buying local, think about food security, think about which businesses they’re supporting… that residual impact is a little hard to measure, but I do believe it's real,” Massie said.
Tom Baumann, professor emeritus of UFV's Agriculture program, said the program at Sardis Secondary wouldn't exist if it weren't for Massie and Toth.
"They pull it all together. They pull all the resources together and they have the students out there doing what they should be doing – putting their hands in the dirt," Baumann said.
Sardis Seconday School's 41st annual Mother's Day Plant Sale is Saturday, May 10 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 45460 Stevenson Rd. They accept cash, debit or credit card. Money raised goes towards the purchase and installation of the greenhouse at the school's off-site farm.
To donate to the school's greenhouse fundraiser, go to sss.sd33.bc.ca/sss-greenhouse.
