2-27-23 Handouts •
•
Good evening.
I am representing the Arts and Recreation committee tonight.
On February 14th students from Mayport Coastal Sciences Middle School attended the monthly
ARC meeting and presented a request for funds to enhance the community garden at the
school. You can see their presentation because it was, of course, recorded at the meeting. It
occurs about 15 minutes into the meeting. It was about 10 minutes long and followed by an
informative question and answer period fielded by Ms. Jill Jenkins, assistant principal at the
school. Because I know your time is valuable, I am going to summarize their presentation as
quickly as I can and ask that you approve this request by the ARC committee to spend funds to
support the expansion of the garden and outdoor classroom. All the members of the ARC
committee voted to approve this request.
The garden presently consists of 13 raised beds and three picnic tables. They would like to
expand to 31 raised beds and 6 picnic tables so all students can be seated at once. They would
also like to add a sun shield so students can get out of the sun on their breaks and amphitheater
style seating in another area to accommodate guest speakers and family education classes.
There are 900 students at the school. Around 450 come from the 32233 zip code. About 25
percent come from military families. Presently 250 students use the garden daily. (This is
actually just the entry level class, as there are classes on aquaponics and they use fish effluent
to fertilize the gardens, but I promised to keep this short, so I am not even going to go into all
that. ) Expanding the number of beds would allow each group of students to care for their own
garden bed. Fresh vegetables are sent home with each student in the class and they would
like to double the amount of fresh veg sent home. The goal for next school year is 12,000
pounds.
The amount of money they are requesting is just under$9,468. ARC has $18K left from the
community grants which will more than cover the request. The main items are the picnic
tables, the sun shield, a garden shed and amphitheater-style seating for the wildflower garden
so it can be used as a community outdoor theater and presentation space.
As you know, the Mayport corridor is considered a food desert. This grant will help alleviate that
drought in two ways, it will actually contribute food to family tables, and it will teach a generation
of citizens skills to help remediate that lack in the future. I am just going to say that again,
because it is the most important idea here. This grant will help mitigate the lack of fresh food
available on the Mayport corridor and teach hundreds of our citizens how to supplement their
diet with fresh healthy food they grow themselves.
I have provided a photo of the beds as they were when I last visited. You can see that they
survived the freeze better than many of the yards in my neighborhood. You can see the
concrete pad in the background that will be covered with the sunshield. It can easily
accommodate the additional picnic tables.
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We have contacted the Oceanside Rotary and they have shown interest in helping the students
access resources to revamp the garden this May if these materials are provided, so we would
like to have the request approved as soon as possible.
Budget summary of the 4 largest items.
Item
Cost
Total Cost
Picnic tables
1042.43 for 3
Poles for sunshade
1619.91 for 4
Garden benches
3209.5 for 25
Garden shed
1492.71 for 1
With other items the total is $9468.
Again, we have this amount in the ARC grant fund. We are asking for authorization to spend it
on this project.
Thank you for your time.
Picnic Tables Price
https://wtittw homedepot com/p/Dura-Trel-6-ft-
White-Vinv-Patio-Picnic-Table-
• 11114/205710823 347.41
10 ft Stainless steel poles for sun shade 179.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/309MQJFFQ2?
encoding=UTF8&ref =cm sw r cp ud dp 5F
KA21S4PM3X'HAN N1XY0&th=1
Sun Shade Sail 12 by 16 69.24
F..tt s: www.liomede ot.com CO�OURTREE-
_2-ft-;c-16-ft-190-GSM-•Grey Recta ngle-Sun-
Shade-Sail _Leith-Rectangle-Kit-kit-TAP131216-
9/317355696
Cinder Blocks
https://www.homedepot.com/p/`8-in-x-8-in-x-
" 6-i n -Con cre-te-BI ock- 1001924/2023 23962
Garden Compost Number 3 from Earth Works
per yard (Wild Earth Mix)
Delivery Fee for Garden Dirt Earth Works
Garden Benches for by the Octopus Garden
https•//www homedepot.com/p/3-ft-Cedar-Fir-
1+Vood-Log-Woad-Curved-Bench-Rustic-Stvle-
Backless-Benchjor-Backyard_Natural-if D -WF_
D21 319823439
Garden Shed
https://www.homed epot.com/p/Lifetime-8-ft-
W-x-10-ft-D-Plastic-Outdoor-Storage-Shed-71-
7-sq-ft-60371/321072364.
GRAND TOTAL (does not include tax)
ADDITIONS?
Sakrete 50 Ib bags (for pole bases)
https://www.homedepot.com/p/SAKRETE-50-
b -Fast -Set -Concrete -M ix -
65305535/100350261
Composter
https:/fie ww.homedepot.com/o/140-gal-3-
Stage-Compost-Bi n-Aeroplus-6000/204722037
Miscellaneous anchor bolts and hardware
TOTAL 1
Quantity Sub total
3 1042.43
9 1619.91
4 276.96
2.47 200 494
70 6 420
50 2 100
128.38 25 3209.5
1492.71
1 1492.71
$8,655.51
6.66 50 333
$369.49 1 $369.49
100 100
$9,468.00