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Morning Star School Unveils Unity Garden

Community garden dedication in Carrollwood marks the first location in Scotts Miracle-Gro's Global Initiative.

A worldwide initiative by the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company kicked off today at Morning Star School at 210 Linebaugh Avenue.

Through the launch of GRO1000, Scotts and its partners committed to creating and installing 1,000 community gardens and green spaces throughout the United States, Canada and Europe by 2018 in honor of the company’s 150th anniversary. 

The first was installed today at Morning Star School in Carrollwood, which is a small Catholic school with a student body of 73 kids ranging from 6-16 years old. The event  featured hands-on involvement from students and presentations by local officials.

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According to Michael Lukemire, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company president for the southeast region, there were a few factors involved in choosing the school for the project.

“Morning Star was chosen because they had values similar to ours," he said. "We were looking for schools who are eager to make a difference – institutions with students and faculty that are engaged, involved, and truly want to the help the environment.”

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Each department - the school has departments in lieu of grades - was assigned a garden bed and specific tasks including watering, weeding, picking, sharing and eating.  The children were asked to select their vegetables at a pep rally last month in conjunction with Tampa Bay Beautification, and school officials say they have been excited ever since. 

“We are deeply honored and humbled that our small and mighty school has been chosen as the beneficiary of such generosity of time, talent and treasure," said Principal Eileen Daly. "The mission of our school is to challenge our students, to reach their optimum level of success, and to go out and become productive citizens and be ready for the larger, global experiences and serve the community and now with the help of Scotts, Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful and Tampa Bay Beautification, the students will have those opportunities to practice these important skills for their future lives."

Many said that the term ‘unity’ was used appropriately, since many people had come together to create the gardens – vegetable, sensory and butterfly – including volunteers from Lowe’s, Waste Management, Florida Medical Clinic, and parents.   

City of Tampa Administrator Santiago Corrada spoke today on behalf of Mayor Pam Iorio. 

“It has been appropriately named the Unity Garden," he said. "That’s what we’re all about in Hillsborough County – partnerships coming together to do beautiful things.  We thank Scotts for bringing the Gro1000 initiative to our community.  We’re very competitive and we like being number one, so thank you for making us the first city."

Student Council President Preston Clemmons told the crowd, “We are blessed to receive this generous gift of a community garden.  We the students, promise to be good stewards of this gift and we pledge to learn about gardening and to become environmentally aware.  We will take care of these vegetables and share the harvest with those who are in need.”

Student Elise Gutierrez read a poem by Colin McNaughton titled “I Planted Some Seeds” by Colin McNaughton followed by seven students from the Transition Class singing “Morning Has Broken."

Morning Star School is the first school to kick off this initiative for 2011, the other six cities scheduled to receive a dedication include Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Long Island, Ontario, Canada and Leon, France.

Patrick Harrison, from Tampa Bay Beautification, emphasized, “We are honored we are to be part of this phenomenal project.  The kids get so excited when you talk about nature.  They stand up straighter, they smile, they pay much more attention – this is exciting to them and in turn, exciting for us.”

The students won’t be the only ones to reap the benefits of the vegetables grown in their garden.  A portion of the harvests will be donated to support the Most Holy Redeemer Food Pantry. 

Rene Morisette, Ministry to the Poor at Most Holy Redeemer, is part of a movement that feeds approximately 175 families every Tuesday morning. 

In addition to private donations from local grocery stores, bakeries and restaurants, Redeemer receives six tons of food monthly from the Department of Agriculture.  He is grateful to be the beneficiary of the school’s harvests. 

“We’ve been blessed by Morning Star School for the wonderful food drives at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and are thankful that this gardening project will benefit the poor.” 

Rick Fazzio, live nursery specialist at Lowe's in Carrollwood, said the event was a success.

“As soon we started this project, we knew it was going to be something really special.  We all worked together to make this happen."

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