Albert Schweitzer Elementary School has been awarded the Lowe’s Toolbox for Education Grant of $2825 .The grant will be used by the school’s Community Service Club to add raised vegetable beds to the school’s courtyard, which will be used to maintain a vegetable garden this spring.

Produce from the garden will be donated to the Penndel Food Pantry. “During the spring and summer, we receive food from ‘Rolling Harvest’…Other than those prime months, we do not receive any produce,” said Kristen Studer Penndel Food Pantry Coordinator.

Students of the school’s Community Service Club plan to maintain the garden over the summer by volunteering over the vacation with their families. The first plantings to be put towards donation could come as early as March, seeing as the school already has a greenhouse obtained through a previous Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant, which was awarded in 2011.

Albert Schweitzer Elementary school’s Community Service Club was established in 2012 and has aided organizations such as The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, St. Mary’s Hospital, and the Knights of Columbus. The advisors of the club include teachers Joellen Exner and Jen Hanley, along with guidance counselor Mary Ellen Pulak.

Exner, who filed the grant application,said that the club’s goal is to donate over 2000 lbs of fresh produce to the pantry.“Seventy-five families rely on this service to feed their children…fresh produce is a treasure and treat for these needy families,” she said.