Scotiabank plants vegetable garden at primary school

Scotiabank employees in the Corporate Area got their hands dirty on Labour Day planting a vegetable garden at Allman Town Primary School in central Kingston.

The team placed topsoil in several plastic containers cut out from drums provided by Sherwin-Williams then planted seedlings of pepper, calaloo, lettuce and pak choy in a containerised garden. They also planted watermelon in a nearby plot. The work was supervised by a representative of the Rural Agriculture Development Authority (RADA).

"We chose seedlings that could easily grow in this environment. When we came and looked at the spot before, we saw that it was too shady, so we asked the school to cut away some of the tree cover to allow sunlight in," explained RADA's Santino Longmore.

Yanique Forbes Patrick, Scotiabank vice-president for marketing, was among the gardening crew, which involved some 40 employees at all levels from the head office and Corporate Area branches.

"We are trying to ensure that we have given this school the resources to, firstly, teach the students how vegetables are grown and their importance," said Forbes Patrick. "Secondly, we are ensuring that they actually have calaloo and other vegetables to eat."

Thamara Russell-Brown, vice-principal at Allman Town Primary, was appreciative of the work done by the Scotiabank employees. "I am really elated because the new curriculum requires that students know how to plant crops and take care of them," she said.