Lake in the Hills hopes to build children's garden to help food pantry

The Lake in the Hills Parks and Recreation Department is seeking to raise $5,000 to create a children's garden that will benefit a local food pantry.

The garden would serve an educational purpose for the nearly 450 children registered in the parks department's preschool, after-school, summer school and camp programs, as well as senior citizens and participants from the Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association, said Laura Barron, Lake in the Hills parks and recreation director.

"We did a village survey last spring. The residents were requesting more environmental programming," Barron said. "We could do a little intergenerational programming too. We're going to have a lot of kids coming out, and we hope parents come out."

Produce grown there would help feed needy families served by the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Interfaith Food Pantry. Parks officials plan to build the children's garden on village property behind the pantry's Victory Garden, located at 1113 Pyott Road in Lake in the Hills, where adult volunteers grow a wide variety of fresh vegetables and fruit provided free to the roughly 300 families served.

"Last year, we did over 5,000 pounds of food in the current beds that we have right now," said Laurie Selpien, food pantry volunteer. "The idea here is it's free vegetables so if we can introduce the recipients to vegetables they've never had in their lives, you are changing the way they eat. We set up a farmers market ... so we can talk to the people about the vegetables and how to cook them."

Through the new garden, children would learn how to grow vegetables and plants organically and make healthy eating choices to reduce childhood obesity, as well as give back to the community, Barron said.

"We are doing (six) raised garden beds," Barron said, adding that students from NISRA and the parks programs would rotate to plant and tend the garden. "We are actually going to be working with our Preschool Academy (to create) a curriculum. They are starting with Earth Day in April and they will be coming in May to do planting and watering. It's going to be a lot of fun."

Each garden bed will be about 3 feet by 20 feet long and incorporate worm composting, regular composting, and a teepee-like structure and tunnel with vines growing above it.

The garden will be built within the next two weeks and be in use from April through the end of September. Lowe's Home Improvement has selected it as a Lowe's Heroes project, and volunteers will help build it and supply the materials, Barron said.

Donations for the children's garden are being sought through the Fund Your Park campaign page on the National Recreation and Park Association website through April 28. Donations also can be made in person at the Lake in the Hills Village Hall, 600 Harvest Gate, during regular business hours. Donors names will be added to the garden wall in the village hall lobby.

"We ask for a minimum of $1 donation," Barron said.

The village also is competing for a grant through Seeds of Change and residents can cast votes in support of the garden project through its website once daily starting Thursday through April 18. Grants could range from $10,000 to $20,000, Barron said.

"This is all through grant money," Barron said, adding no village funds were allocated for the project.