A tiny garden sprouts wings

Request for a few supplies leads to major project at Canyon Lake Middle School

By CRAIG SHULTZ - Staff Writer | Sunday, October 12, 2008 3:08 PM PDT ∞

LAKE ELSINORE ---- A tiny vegetable garden at Canyon Lake Middle School has sprouted into a major boon for the campus.

Home Depot picked the school as the site of a project with Kaboom, a national organization whose vision is to create a place to play within walking distance of every child in America.

The project started when Canyon Lake special education teacher Adina Ross asked the retailer for some chicken wire and stakes to keep rabbits and squirrels from invading their small garden.

Ross teaches students with autism, Down Syndrome, mental retardation and other severe health impairments.

Wednesday, more than 100 volunteers decked in orange shirts spread out across the campus to build sensory, vegetable and butterfly gardens, fencing, a playground, picnic tables and a sandbox. They also painted a large mural.

The volunteers came from nine Home Depot stores in the region.

"Originally, it was a small vegetable garden and Tammie Mock spearheaded it into something incredible," Ross said. "My kids can use it every single day."

Mock, Team Depot captain at the Lake Elsinore Home Depot, submitted the project to the corporate office for the grant. They received $2,000 for supplies, and Mock was able to get donations of food and drinks from some of her vendors to feed the volunteers.

Mock said she was touched by a letter she received from Ross seeking the original donation.

"Our goal is to make this a great place for children to attend school," Mock said.

Among the features is a playground, where Ross' students can play tic-tac-toe and other games while learning shapes and colors.

"For that particular class, it means they have a place to call their own at Canyon Lake Middle School," Principal Tamerin Capellino said. "It's going to give them opportunities they didn't have previously."

The new additions were added into areas that were mostly unused before, Capellino said.

"This really gives us useable space for the whole school," she said. "It really does provide us a lot of flexibility.

While there are areas specifically for the special-needs students, other places can be used by the entire student body.

"This is going to take on a whole science thing," Ross said of the butterfly and vegetable gardens.

One of the special features is a mural titled "Handprints of the Future," where every Canyon Lake student will place a painted handprint. A smaller wall will be for Ross' students.

Many of Ross' students volunteered Wednesday, as did others from the campus.

"The regular kids get to see what my kids go through," Ross said. "When they get to know them, they're more inclined for acceptance. This brings more community."

The captains of the cheerleading squad said they get a lot out of helping, and didn't even mind wearing paint-stained orange T-shirts.

"I like to see the joy in their face," Katie Rodriguez said.

"It kind of makes your day being with them" Kaitlin Fitch added.

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