The Leeds United Foundation has donated over £1,500 worth of gardening tools and equipment to students at Temple Moor High School for a special 'GrowZone' project.
Earlier this year the students, who all have special educational needs and disability support from East Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre (East SILC), were given a piece of land at Kippax Allotments on Gibson Lane to start their own gardening project.
The idea behind the project was to give the young people something that they could build and create together, the chance to learn new skills and information and give them somewhere that eventually they could take their friends and spend time with family.
Pupils from the school spent weeks writing to local companies to ask for their help, whether it was through donations of money or in-kind to support their 'GrowZone' project.
Once the club’s official charity received their letter they thought of the different ways they could help and decided to purchase tools for them to use for their venture. The students put together a ‘wish list’ which included the following items; seeds, a hand saw, wheel barrow, cordless drill, screwdrivers, compost, watering can, shovels and trowels, a bench and picnic table, garden bed and paint and brushes.
Alan Schorfield, CEO of the Leeds United Foundation and Anthony Hall, the Disability Sports Officer, paid a visit to the allotment recently to not only hand the equipment over to the children but to also spend the day helping them with their project, something they intend to do regularly, given the project could take years to fully develop.
Jenny Mills, who works with the young people as their contact from East SILC, spoke to LUTV and said: “This project really has been great for the students; they’ve got so involved in it and are all really eager to be a part of it all. The biggest thing they want to achieve is to make it accessible for their friends that are in wheelchairs, which will take us a while to do but they're determined to get there.
“That’s why this donation from the Leeds United Foundation is so amazing, without support like this we wouldn’t have the funds to be able to support them with a project like this, it really does mean so much to the kids so a massive thank you from all of us.”