Shaome Cooperative dedicates raised garden beds at Heritage Elementary School

“We want children to learn how to grow their own food, so that they can be food secure throughout their lifetimes," said Chelsea McClain, President & CEO of Shaome Cooperative.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Students are having fun while also learning major life skills at Heritage Elementary School in Macon, as Shaome Cooperative held a raised garden bed ceremony Thursday.

According to a news release, Shaome Cooperative is a local non-profit committed to advancing food security through sustainable practices.

The raised beds for each grade level, made possible by donations from community members, partners and businesses, will be used to teach students how to grow their own food.

“We want students to be able to see plants grow and to understand where the food comes from, because so many of our students, the only place they encounter food is in the grocery store,” Principal Donna Cline said. “So we want them to see it basically from the garden to the table.”

“Through our Leader in Me Program, we have different clubs, and one of our clubs that our teachers decided to have is a gardening club,” Cline added. “We started out with our courtyards, and now we’re expanding to our garden out here, and the kids love getting involved with the gardening club, getting out and playing in the dirt. We want them to experience not only playing in the dirt, but what the dirt can provide for them.”

“For the winter garden, we are going to grow different types of greens,” Cline continued. “We’re going to start out with some cabbage and kale and different things of that nature, and then of course in the spring, we’ll go into some spring crops, because eventually they will also have some fruit trees out on the edge of the property.”

“We want children to learn how to grow their own food, so that they can be food secure throughout their lifetimes,” said Chelsea McClain, President and CEO of Shaome Cooperative. “We want them to learn how to teach other people and to share their crops, share their surplus harvest with other people, so we’re going to be helping them with food distribution once we expand this program to be growing more food here.”

McClain plans to bring this program to more schools in the area in 2025. Heritage Elementary was the first because two of her board members also work there.

She also has big plans for Georgia. She says she wants to make the state the first in the nation to be food secure. As part of that goal, she plans to install a “Food Forest” at Heritage so even when everyone is long gone, food will still be growing for future generations.

Heritage Elementary School is located at 6050 Thomaston Road in Macon.