Over a dozen additional fruit trees and bushes have joined an orchard at a Green Valley elementary school.
The greenery, which volunteers from several local organizations planted on Saturday, expands a ring of raspberry bushes, blackberry bushes and apple, plum and pear trees around Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School.
“The response has been incredible,” Mary Glass of the Arlington Tree Connection told ARLnow.
Her organization helped coordinate the effort alongside members of the Green Valley Civic Association, Community Association of Resources Education and Enrichment and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. It’s all part of a project funded through the state government’s Virginia Trees for Clean Water initiative.
The initiative for fruit trees was conceived by Portia Clark, immediate past president of the Green Valley Civic Association. The fruit from mature trees will be available to members of the community as well as the school.
The civic association will be responsible for maintaining the trees and bushes, and individuals will be able to “adopt” specific ones for care.
“This will be a community resource,” Glass said. Asked about when the first fruit will be available from the trees as they mature, she said: “I don’t think it’ll be this year, but maybe next year.”
On hand to assist in leading efforts was Nathan Steele, a third-grade teacher at Drew who previously completed gardening projects in multiple locations on the campus.
Yvonne Kane, a fourth-grade teacher at the school, brought a contingent from local chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a sorority whose members are active in community-service and education efforts.
In addition to providing food for the neighborhood, the project aims to reinforce the school’s existing science and environmental curricula and provide “deep, real-world, problem-solving” experiences.
The effort also pays tribute to the history of the Green Valley community. As its name implies, the area once was filled with trees, including fruit-producers, before residential development overtook it.
