Lower Columbia School Gardens reports growth: 20 school sites, 1,230 volunteer hours and plant giveaways

Ian Thompson, operations coordinator for the nonprofit Lower Columbia School Gardens, told the Calas County Board of Health on Thursday that the program has expanded to gardens at about 20 elementary and middle schools in the Longview and Kelso school districts and has increased volunteer and community activity. Thompson said the nonprofit started roughly 15,000 baby plants from seed this season and dispersed them across school gardens. “We started 15,000 baby plants, you know, from seed, and then those are dispersed out to all the gardens,” he said. He told the board the program now maintains about 200 grapevines across gardens, recorded 102 new volunteers this year and logged about 1,230 volunteer hours so far. The nonprofit also gave away approximately 2,000 plants after a plant sale, including 160 one‑gallon tomato plants that were transported in a trailer to community events. Thompson described partnerships that support the program: teacher trainings run in cooperation with Education Service District 112 (ESD 112) that provided substitutes and STEM clock hours for teachers; sponsorships from local businesses such as Fiber Credit Union; corporate volunteer days from groups including UnitedHealthcare and Windermere; and site support from organizations such as Three Rivers Christian and Lower Columbia College (LCC). He said the Longview School District asked the nonprofit to help with its summer-school program. The gardens run open public sessions during the summer at sites including Barnes, CVG and Saint Helens elementary schools; volunteers and community members need not complete school-district background checks during summer open-garden hours, Thompson said. The nonprofit also runs teen intern and high-school volunteer programs, and provides produce on rotating community farm-stand tables at neighborhood sites. Thompson said the board’s prior funding vote helped the program this year but that some other funding sources had disappeared and the nonprofit has done additional fundraising and sought sponsors and grants. He did not provide an amount for the board’s earlier funding or the other grants. Ending: Thompson closed by thanking the board and noting momentum in alumni participation and volunteer engagement; the meeting then opened for public comment and adjourned.