NOT JUST GROWING A GARDEN - A School Success Story, Part 4

Guest blogger and GardenShare student intern Anna Kowanko finishes her story about Keene Central School's garden and food service program...

All students K-12 file into the gym. Their respective tables have been set with table clothes colored by art classes and some children run from table to table looking for their hand-turkey, cornucopia or pilgrim stick figure. They finally find their seats with grumbling stomachs as parents, siblings, friends, alumni, and Neighborhood House members pay and file in. Some pull up chairs next to their relatives while others make their way to the community tables that have been set for visitors. Thanksgiving dinner is a tradition. Volunteers from the high school serve the Neighborhood House members and people file through the line that for today is student served. Everyone waits not so patiently for the ice cream cups to be handed out after seconds and thirds have been guzzled. Finally, the meal ends and the students lead the community in their all too natural composting routine. Before the meal the elementary school students wearing paper-crafted Pilgrim and Indian hats chant bashfully, “we are thankful for the food we eat, the love we share, and the friends we meet.”