Club Helps Stimulate Learning at Local School

Gaston County Republican Women of North Carolina has worked over the last year to bring unique sensory learning to special needs students at a local school. Members have maintained vegetable and flower gardens, built raised garden beds, as well as designed and created outdoor art stations.

Smiles are on display at Webb Street School's sensory gardens as students put their hands in the dirt, pick vegetables and flowers from the raised garden beds, walk through a maze of bamboo sticks, pretend to milk a wooden cow, and make colorful masterpieces with chalk or paint. Gaston County Republican Women of North Carolina has been instrumental in creating and maintaining the gardens over the last year.

Webb Street School is a public separate school for students with special needs, ages 5 to 22. The sensory gardens provide enhanced outdoor learning experiences and life skills training.

The gardens are a work of passion for substitute teacher and GCRW member Carol Faraday. The sensory gardens fell into a state of disrepair during the COVID lockdown but in the last year with the help of GCRW members, Carol created and built new wheelchair accessible garden beds and art stations for students. The goal is to help students who may have limited mobility to have unique learning experiences. The sensory gardens make learning fun.

Carol is continually inspired to create new designs from everyday items. Old pots and pans became a percussive symphony. A trio of colorful hubcaps became a stoplight. An old car hood with stop signs became a lesson in street safety. Old tires became planters for herbs and flowers. Colorful wiffleballs became an outdoor abacus. And, students love to plant seeds and watch them grow.

This past year GCRW had forty members, associate members, and family at the school working in the gardens. Club members cleared and weeded vegetable beds; prepared an area for a pumpkin patch; built a new raised bed; cleaned the greenhouses; painted items in the sensory garden; helped assemble new art designs, planted vegetables and raked the yards.

GCRW also promoted the school project with other volunteer groups. The Gaston County GOP, the North Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition, and local businesses participated with club members and contributed their time and resources over the past year to the sensory gardens. For Carol, community involvement helps make the program thrive.

Finally, the club participated in the sensory garden fundraising drive. The club donated funds as well as promoted the fundraiser and plant sale on the GCRW website, facebook page and at meetings. The school raised over $10,000 from the fundraiser and plant sale . Donations will be used to support programs, as well as purchase seeds and tools that will keep our gardens thriving.