At Land to Learn (LtL), we believe every child deserves the chance to dig in the dirt, grow their own food, and experience the joy of learning outdoors. At Gidney Avenue Memorial School (GAMS in Newburgh), we bring this to life by teaching monthly lessons with 19 classes throughout the school year. This year, we’re reaching 380 GAMS students in grades K–3, offering engaging, hands-on experiences that invite children to eat, grow, and cook with vegetables, make connections to food and health, and explore their natural environment.
LtL Educator, Thea Bjornson, cultivates the GAMS garden to be a safe, welcoming, and inspiring outdoor classroom. However, the garden currently lacks proper storage for tools and educational materials. Without a shed, supplies become disorganized, damaged, and must be transported daily, making it harder to manage the garden and facilitate lessons effectively.
To solve this, we plan to build a durable storage shed with help from local partner Zach Blaue (leader of the Awesome Newburgh–funded project Tools and Trees!), who has volunteered to design and lead the build. We’ll recruit volunteers from the school and broader community to assist, offering residents a hands-on way to support local students while learning basic construction skills. Zach’s cost estimate puts the project at around $1,500.
LtL is an independent nonprofit serving public schools across the Hudson Valley, including four in Newburgh. Our funding comes from district partnerships, grants, local businesses, and individual donors. Our SproutEd program reaches 2,774 students at 11 schools, and our limited budget doesn’t always cover infrastructure needs like benches and sheds.
We’re excited to collaborate with Zach and community volunteers, but need funding to make this project possible. With help from Awesome Newburgh, we can create a safe, organized space that helps us run our programming more smoothly and sustain a thriving garden classroom while strengthening community.