East St. Louis Garden
Helmkamp recently became involved in a “bigger than us” project – a community garden in East St. Louis. The Eastside Garden project at Jones Park in East St. Louis, Illinois was a huge success. The project converted a former greenhouse site into a garden where children could learn about plants and community residents could grow food and flowers.
Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work and SIUE Nursing organized the project. Approximately 100 university students, plus volunteers and children from the community installed 20 raised beds. The garden will be used for classes for area children and as a place for community residents to garden.
Helmkamp Project Manager Rod Ferree and Superintendent Greg Kohlberg were out at 7 a.m. to build raised garden bed boxes for the project, which officially ran for 9 a.m. to noon. By 10:30 a.m. Rod, Greg, and another Helmkamp employee built 15, four-by-eight-foot raised beds.
Helmkamp has donated the materials for the beds and lent donating tools. A landscaping firm donated services on the day of the event and helped with the previous day’s preparation as well. Painting Coatings Unlimited has donated paint for the walls. This is a link to the website for the garden.
