SIDNEY — Longfellow Elementary School first-graders and community volunteers rolled up their sleeves Monday and got their hands dirty as they prepared the Lowe’s Heroes Garden for spring planting.
“We have a ‘Pay it Forward’ program,” said Patty Cisco, owner of Marketing Essentials in New Bremen. Her employees volunteered their time Monday to help get the garden ready for the spring season.
“We are always looking for community service projects to do as a team,” said Cisco. “We want to give back to the community and build our employees into a team.”
Cisco said she had heard about the garden program at Longfellow “through word of mouth.”
“We had found somebody, who knew somebody,” said Cisco. “We’re here to help clean and spruce up the garden and freshen it up. We’re going to put mulch down also.
“We going to put up bird feeders too,” said Cisco.
Marketing Essentials purchased all the supplies needed for the event.
“This is a great group of employees who have generous hearts,” said Cisco of her 15 employees.
One of the employees who volunteered her time was Lisa Davidson, of New Bremen.
“This was very fun and gave us a chance to give back to the and volunteer in the community,” said Davidson. “It was fun to get the kids involved in the project. This was a big treat for us.”
Eleven first-grade students helped the Marketing Essentials employees with the work in the garden.
“I received a call from Patty Cisco who said she had heard we were looking for volunteers to help with the garden,” said Principal Fran Dembski. “She said they would supply the help and had a budget for the program. I ordered the mulch for them and Lowes delivered it to the school.”
Retired teacher Jim McCracken, who helps at the school, was also notified about the cleanup day.
“He keeps the courtyard up,” said Dembski, “and maintains the garden. He has helped us from the beginning when the garden was established.”
Dembski said the school is also in the planning stages of creating a salad garden. She’s working with Lynda Adams from the Shelby Soil and Water Conservation District on the project.
“I’m so grateful for the help,” said Dembski.
The garden and courtyard, said Dembski, are now ready for Thursday evening’s Sneak Peak program, which is being held at the school from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Marketing Essentials, Cisco said, is a digital marketing agency which partners with companies that want to grow. They develop a plan, which includes social media, to help the businesses attract visitors, capture visitors and convert visitors to leads to help grow the company.
