Big Creek Lumber Offers School Garden Grant Program for 2025
October, 2024
Big Creek Lumber is excited to announce they will be offering their School Garden Grant Program for 2025. This annual program has already awarded 82 grants to schools local to Big Creek locations and they are looking forward to awarding twelve more this year. This program provides redwood garden bed materials to local schools and supports student education.
The school garden bed grant program provides opportunities for students and teachers to learn about science, biology, agriculture, carpentry and forestry. Big Creek Lumber is a big proponent of supporting hands-on learning and education. The garden beds gifted through this grant program are made from locally sourced and sustainably harvested redwood lumber. Redwood is a unique and versatile wood product that is both beautiful and bug and rot resistant as well as a great choice to use for raised garden beds at schools and homes.
Big Creek informally donated garden beds to local schools for decades. The School Garden Grant Program formalizes this practice and opens up the opportunity to a wider audience through the annual application process, now in its 9th year. Marketing Manager Michelle Webb shared, “My favorite part of the year is the spring where we get to donate and hand deliver our School Garden Bed Grants to local schools. To see the excitement of children when a Big Creek Lumber truck pulls up with their donation, I can only anticipate the fun they will have ahead learning how to grow their own food. Of our 82 garden bed grant donations, I have personally attended over half of them and this is one thing that never gets old. I am already looking forward to delivering the next round of kits in 2025”.
Schools are encouraged to apply every year and recipient schools may apply again after a two-year period.
Applications are available on Big Creek’s website; https://bigcreeklumber.com/schoolgardenbedgrants/ Click “About”. On the drop down menu, select “Building our Communities”. Applications can also be picked up at any of their six retail lumber and building supply yards in Atwater, Half Moon Bay, Paso Robles, Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Vallejo.
This benefits schools in the communities in which Big Creek does business. Twelve garden bed kits will be awarded and delivered to recipient schools. Completed applications must be returned to a Big Creek Lumber yard in person by Thursday, October 31st. All eligible schools will be entered in a drawing and two schools will be selected in the vicinity of each yard at random. The kits will be delivered in the early spring so the students can get their gardens planted in time for the full growing season.
2024 Garden Bed Grant Winners:
- Alicia Reyes Elementary School in Merced, CA
- Stoneridge Christian School in Atwater, CA
- Pescadero Elementary in Pescadero, CA
- Cunha Intermediate School in Half Moon Bay, CA
- STEPS Program in Paso Robles, CA
- Kermit King Elementary in Paso Robles, CA
- San Lorenzo Valley Elementary in Felton, CA
- Alternative Family Education in Santa Cruz, CA
- Cave Language Academy in Vallejo, CA
- Robert Semple Elementary in Benicia, CA
- Landmark Elementary in Watsonville, CA
- Mintie White Elementary in Watsonville, CA
About Big Creek Lumber
Big Creek Lumber Company has been in business since 1946 and remains one of the few family-owned lumber companies in the state. The McCrary family has lived and worked on the Central Coast for seven generations. The company currently operates a sawmill, wholesale sales department, six retail building supply yards, a forestry department and a logging operation. Big Creek has a long history of practicing superior and sustainable forest stewardship – growing, selectively harvesting and milling California coastal redwood and Douglas fir. For more Information on Big Creek Lumber, its products and retail yards, visit www.bigcreeklumber.com
