Nancy White, chair of the Monroe County Master Gardener Association’s grant committee, recently visited the Bloomington Montessori School to see what had become of a grant awarded to start a garden for the school’s students.
The children were excited to show her what they had grown and learned, White said.
“They gave me a salad made out of things they had grown from the garden,” she said.
The Master Gardener Association is now accepting applications for the 2016 Master Gardener Grant program. The program was designed to help fund projects related to gardening that have an educational component.
The program also trains volunteers to spread horticulture information in their communities.
Amy Thompson, extension educator of the Master Gardener Association, said the program is not just about learning the information, but also sharing that knowledge with the community.
“There’s tons to learn about gardening,” Thompson said. “We want people to garden smarter.”
In the past, the grant has been awarded to projects like the Bloomington High School North Community Garden, the Middle Way House Rooftop Garden and the Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard Gardening Education Program.
The grant applications are open to any non-profit club or organization. The deadline is Feb. 15. The grant is in its seventh year.
“We’re not awfully strict about what the project is,” White said. “No good idea gets ignored.”
There is often more than one organization that receives a grant of $500 or less.
White said they award small grants in hopes of organizations searching for funding from multiple sources. “Looking for other sources of money shows us they are serious,” she said
White said grant proposals should be fully developed, with a budget and a clear idea of what will be accomplished.
“Sometimes we get applications for projects that haven’t been thought through,” she said. “But more than often we get wonderful grants.”
As a teacher, White said she knows how hard it is to find funds.
“Those are the kinds of things that don’t happen without grants,” she said. “That’s where the money should go.”
