GALES Team Adds Garden, Welcome Area at School

New landscaping, a tiered garden and picnic tables create a welcoming area for families to congregate at the north entrance of Galena Elementary School. The project, completed in June after school let out for the summer, was funded by a grant from the Home Depot Foundation.

Thanks to support from the Home Depot Foundation, parents will find a new welcome area when they drop off and pick up their children at Galena Elementary School this fall.

On Thursday, June 23, Principal Becky Yoder and her team picked up shovels, hammers and drills to build gardens and picnic tables at the north entrance of the school.

Smiling and having fun, they were all out working in a summer rainstorm that day.

“Although everyone was drenched, it was nice to see the smiles and hear the laughter as the Galena staff and Home Depot volunteers collaborated on the project,” Yoder said.

From left, Galena Elementary School Principal Becky Yoder is joined by a pair of Home Depot volunteers and school staff members Dawn Webb and Stephanie Krastelin the rain Thursday, June 23 as they prepare the site by the school’s north entrance for a new garden.

Grant funding through the Home Depot Foundation provided the school with the materials to build a multi-tiered garden box near the wall of the school and install additional landscaping in a grassy area leading to the parking.

In addition, three picnic tables were placed near the north entrance to “provide a safe, inviting, educational space for students and parents to congregate,” as the grant application stated.

The vision is for the area to offer a more inviting social space for families that also will serve as an outdoor classroom during the school day.

“I cannot thank the Galena staff that volunteered their time as well as Fred Rawlins and his Home Depot volunteers for braving the elements to provide us with a total transformation,” Yoder said.