Grant to aid butterfly project at Uplands school
Posted Jan 29, 2010 By Sheena Bolton
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Sheena Bolton, Ottawa South EMC
Caeleigh MacDonald shows off the bird feeder she made during Alta Vista library branch's winter magic family program on Saturday, Jan. 23.
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EMC News Uplands Catholic School has received grant to continue working on its unique butterfly program.
Sheena Bolton, Ottawa South EMC
hands Samantha Harrington, Uplands Catholic School teacher a cheque for $1,000. Uplands Catholic School plans to build a butterfly garden with the grant.
The $1,000 Metro Green Apple grant was presented to Uplands teacher Samantha Harrington at the grocery store's location at Bank St. and Hunt Club Rd. last Tuesday.
"This is a first for us and because we are such a small school it's definitely very exciting, I mean, for a school of 100 kids $1,000 is a lot of money," said Ms. Harrington.
Ms. Harrington applied for the grant at the end of September and was notified in November that the school was one of the recipients.
The school will expand its butterfly program, as well as other green initiatives, with the money.
"The children last year raised butterflies in class and set them free. This year we are going to continue the butterfly theme with the help of the grant and we are going to create a butterfly garden on school grounds," she said.
"It started in the kindergarten class, but the excitement spread across the school and different classes were coming in to see the progress," said Sue McCarthy, principal at Uplands school, about the program's commencement. "After they turned into butterflies the students decided they wanted to release them back into the environment."
The butterfly project was started as part of the Ottawa Catholic School Board's 'We Care for God's Creation' theme.
"The purpose behind the garden is that the children could use this area as a quiet place to reflect on the simple beauty of our earth," said Ms. Harrington.
After the garden is complete the school will use the remaining money for other green initiatives.
"We are going to put the money towards waste management, energy conservation and community clean-up initiatives," Ms. Harrington said.
Metro launched its Green Apple School Program on Sept. 10, 2009. In total, Metro Inc. will donate $1 million to schools across Ontario, with a handful of schools in Ottawa receiving the grant.
Both primary and secondary schools were eligible to apply. The focus of their application had to be on green initiatives such as tree planting, waste-less lunches and energy conservation.
For more information about the Green Apple School Program, please visit www.greenapplegrants.ca.
