Home & Garden

Echo Horizon School Wins Sony Pictures 'Green' Grant

The $7,500 "A Greener World" Grant will be used by the Culver City school to add planter boxes to its garden as well as a water feature.

Echo Horizon School has won a $7,500 grant from Sony Pictures as part of that company’s “Greener World” grant.

The grant will be used to include an additional four planter boxes, doubling the size of the Culver City school’s existing garden, as well as a water feature that will allow the school to wash, prepare, and eat its own produce.

Last week, parents and teachers helped students plant basil, lettuce, green onions, radishes and other vegetables that will be ready for harvest in 4-6 weeks. 

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“The planting was a great success, and almost all grade levels were out there contributing their time and efforts to plant the garden.  Thanks to Sony we have doubled our garden footprint so that more students can be involved,” said Assistant Head of School Martha Schuur.

Several parents at the school are Sony employees and it was thanks to their efforts spearheading the grant application process that Echo Horizon was able to expand its garden.

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”It was amazing to watch children of all ages take such pride in their garden, and it was a rewarding pleasure to help them plant,” said Sony parent Elise Futterman.

Gina Powell, who oversees the garden, added, “We've found that the more the children garden, the more they love it.  Time in the garden is a combination of slowing down and staring at a new butterfly chrysalis on the milkweeds, or an outburst of joy at finding another worm in the compost.”

Last week’s planting was in preparation for “A Taste of the Garden” Earth Day harvest on April 22, where the school will have a pesto-themed celebration of the expanded garden.

“We are looking forward to Earth Day and hope to find a Culver City vendor who would like to donate bread for bruschetta that will be part of our school's celebration,” said Schuur.

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