Finch Elementary Outdoor Classroom and Garden Projects

William H. Finch Elementary School, in Oakland City, has requested our assistance with building an outdoor classroom to be used by the students for the upcoming 2021 school year.

Our team leads OCCO Parliamentarian Laura Glass-Hess supervised and planned the building of the new outdoor classroom. Volunteers dug holes for concrete footings for benches, cutting lumber, and attaching it all together to build benches, a picnic table. Due to the amazing efforts of the volunteers for the July work days and with generous funding from elected officials for the new outdoor classroom, Finch now has a new outdoor classroom with benches and a picnic table.

Artist and OCCO Volunteer Art & Garden Lead Winnie D. is heading up refurbishing the existing outdoor classroom and new raised beds, and collaborating with LifeCycle Building Center & Atlanta ToolBank through their generous MATCH Program for materials and their help with building robust and moveable sustainable furniture with upcycled materials, along with adding color and visual art to the existing outdoor classroom. Preview of the existing outdoor classroom efforts below. More still to come!

Brand New Build of Outdoor Classroom

concrete footed benches and picnic table built by OCCO volunteers!

Existing Outdoor Classroom/Garden Project

Two (2) Garden bed material donations, ready-built benches & table, gifted by LifeCycle Building Center to Finch Elementary via OCCO.

(benches & table designed by Mark Erickson of LBC)

Up-cycled Composite Materials turned Garden Beds (upside down, ready for install!)

Summer plantings by Finch Students

staging four new moveable benches built by LBC

AFTER PAINT

Existing outdoor chalkboard before paint

Outdoor chalkboard after new coats of paint donated by Atlanta ToolBank! (ft. very dramatic shadows)

&

Newly planted perennials ♥

To donate to the ongoing Finch Elementary Garden improvements, please reach out to OCCOatl@gmail.com with a note regarding the Finch Garden!