Grande Park Elementary Breaking Ground for Grande Garden

We are excited to announce that Grande Park Elementary School will break ground for its “Grande Garden” on Saturday, June 4th at 10:00am at the school’s property just east of the school and Murphy Jr. High.

We cordially invite you to attend. The goal of our garden is to provide the children of Grande Park Elementary with an outdoor
classroom that will encompass a rain, butterfly, sensory, vegetable garden, as well as a bird sanctuary, within Phase I of this multi-phase vision.

The atmosphere will be designed to enhance our children’s
educational surroundings to promote conservation and a love of the environment, while promoting a lifelong dedication to these principles. We want our children to be excited about science, math
and writing through gardening experiences.

The garden will be a place where students can study the long-term effects of experiments performed with each curriculum level. To give students a better understanding of the relationship with nature, creating a dynamic environment for learning core subjects and promoting cooperation through group activities.

Children will also be taught to conserve natural resources and preserve the environment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided the funding for the Illinois Rain Garden Initiative.

Michael Redmer, the project manager, states that the reason he has always liked being a part of this initiative was that most projects are located in focal areas, like schools, park district facilities or libraries,
where they can help demonstrate to local communities the way that citizens can help store rainwater on a very realistic scale right in their own yards, and also expose them to some of our beautiful native
wetland flora.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Illinois Conservation Foundation are also partners in the program. IDNR Director Marc Miller noted that through the Illinois Rain Garden Initiative, school children and communities have the opportunity to confront local flooding issues, assist in ground water recharge, develop wildlife habitat, reduce mowing and increase the use of native plants in Illinois landscapes.

The small amount of effort needed to install a rain garden can provide tremendous impacts in many ways for years to come.
This project would not be possible without support and guidance of many professionals and generous donors including: DJK Groundworks, Inc., Espinoza Landscaping, Encore Real Estate Co., Pizzo & Associates, Ltd. Ecological Restoration, Chevrolet, Lowe’s, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Conservation Foundation and the U.S. Wildlife Services.

For questions regarding our “Grande Garden”, please contact Cathy Crawford at ccrwfrd@lifestart.net or 773.619.6988.