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A Garden Variety School Assignment

Tribune photo by JOHN CEBALLOS

Georgette Beeche lays down mulch while helping build a garden at Reddick Elementary School in Wimauma on Feb. 11. Team Depot pitched in and contributed to the creation of the garden at the first-year school.

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By JOHN CEBALLOS

jceballos@tampatrib.com

Published: February 18, 2009

WIMAUMA - A group of teachers and volunteers at Reddick Elementary School were not afraid to get their hands dirty during a recent outing.

Members of Team Depot - Home Depot's associate volunteer program - joined forces with a few Reddick faculty members Feb. 11 to build a garden at the first-year school.

"We've wanted to do a community building project, and with the garden, the kids can have hands on-experience with several science projects we've got planned," said fourth-grade teacher Shelley McBride.

McBride wrote a grant for the garden in October and received $2,600 from Southwest Florida Water Management District.

The money was used for materials for the garden, which will have stepping stones, benches and more than 20 plants and trees native to Florida, such as elms, mimosas and coral honeysuckles.

"Our curriculum deals with Florida plants, so when we did our research to decide which plants to include, we made sure that we had a lot of plants that were native to Florida," said Erin Steffen, who teaches fourth-grade math and science at Reddick.

The garden area is divided into five sections. Each class at the elementary school will be responsible for its own section of the garden. Students in kindergarten and first grade will share one section.

McBride and Steffen will help other teachers become familiar with the garden.

"We're going to work with them and help them become familiar with the garden so that the entire school can use it as a teaching tool," Steffen said.

Team Depot provided the tools, mulch and labor by working on the garden from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Home Depot established the organization in 1992 as a way to support communities where its associates live and work.

"A big part of our values at Home Depot is to give back to the community our stores are in," said Jonathon Wagner, assistant manager of the Home Depot in Ruskin. "We get involved with a lot of projects in schools and playgrounds."

Wagner was one of 15 volunteers - most of whom are South Shore residents - who dug holes, spread mulch and planted trees during the event.

"I've been working as a volunteer for about 20 years, and we just love going to where we're needed," said Noemi Santana of Apollo Beach.

Team Depot and the faculty members kept their energy up courtesy of food donated by Sonny's restaurant in Sun City Center, Beef O'Brady's in Riverview and beverages donated by Publix in Sun City Center.

"We're very grateful to have all these volunteers working on something that's going to be an awesome opportunity for the students and for the school," McBride said.

Reporter John Ceballos can be reached at (813) 865-1555.

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