The $2,500 grant check was presented to members of the TKMS garden club, TKMS teacher Shaun Davis and Endres by Middleville Farm Bureau Insurance agent Jason Parks prior to the school shutdown.
“This will provide a unique learning opportunity for our students,” said Davis who has taken over as director of the garden club this year.
Endres said the food service department has worked with the middle school garden club in the past to to use foods grown in the garden in the school lunches.
The garden club will use the grant to help create a grow wall – where plants can be grown inside using hydroponics. “We’ll be teaching a little bit of farming and how kids can grow their own food,” said Davis.
“It’s a whole other way of growing food and we hope the students will take an interest in it and in the foods they can grow and eat,” said Endres.
Parks said Farm Bureau agents contribute to the Agent Charitable Fund making grants like this available. The main goal of the Farm Bureau program is to end hunger in Michigan by making grants available for projects related to agriculture, education and children. The ACF seeks to aid approximately 3,000 hunger-relief agencies throughout Michigan. The Parks Farm Bureau Insurance Agency is located on Main Street in Middleville.