Childrens' garden in Rolling Meadows gets a green thumb's up

The sound of spades digging into earth mingled with hammers hitting nails and "Hey, Soul Sister" to make a cheerful soundtrack for a new volunteer program that went into bloom Saturday.

Pupils at Central Road Elementary School in Rolling Meadows are getting a garden with help from HandsOn Suburban Chicago.

The nonprofit agency organizes volunteers across the Northwest suburbs. Its newest program tackles different projects once a month.

"Hey guys, the first bed is right here," Adrin Smith instructed two volunteers. "It should be 6 inches from the building."

Smith lives in a condominium but grows vegetables like tomatoes with his two sons in large rubber containers outside so they learn how food gets to the grocery store. He worked with administrators on the garden idea for two years and Saturday was the culmination of two years of planning.

The garden will be divided into sections that each grade will plant, principal Jennifer Garcia-Macko explained. It will be integrated into the curriculum as kids measure plant growth, keep journals and read related books, covering the subjects of math, reading, writing and science, educators said.

Many Center students live in apartments with little space for gardens.

"Hands-on is the best way to imprint the brain," kindergarten teacher Janice Crothers said. "There will be many hands-on activities that follow the planting of the seeds and watching them grow."

This weekend was the kickoff of HandsOn's new Volunteer Corps. Additional opportunities to help a worthy cause will be offered every month.

"We'll be doing monthly service projects throughout the Northwest suburban area," event coordinator Susan Bensen said. "Every third Saturday of the month, we'll get people to come out and join our local nonprofit partners or schools and do a physical service project like painting or landscaping."

More than 30 parents, staff members, kids and other volunteers chipped in at Central.

"We've been waiting a long time to put the garden in," Crothers said. "We hope we're bringing the community together."

Central is applying for grant funding for its garden through the 2015 Seeds of Change Grant Program. To learn more and support a local school, go to the website seedsofchangegrant.com. For more information about HandsOn, go to the handsonsuburbanchicago.org website.