The Boys & Girls Club of Cascade County has taken over the Westside Orchard Garden in Great Falls.
Mike Dalton and his wife have maintained the garden for over 11 years and have enjoyed getting to create this safe space for kids to come to learn and grow.
With the Boys & Girls Club taking over, they have asked Mike Dalton to stay on as the garden supervisor, which he happily accepted.
The process began a while ago to hand over the garden to the Boys & Girls Club, and they have finally finished working out everything with the state and IRS to officially turn the Westside Orchard Garden into The Kids’ Garden.
This transition will be beneficial to the kids as well as the community. The Boys & Girls Club will be able to continue the programs and activities offered at the garden.
“They are taking over the garden operations in the next few days,” said Dalton. “Now it’s time for the boys and girls to assume all of the responsibilities [and] they’ve been here with us in partnership for 11 years.”
The garden is available for agricultural, garden, and flower people to come in and teach classes to kids. The Rainbow Garden Club has been partnering with the Westside Orchard Garden for about two years to create a sensory garden for the students from the deaf and blind school to interact with.
“[The kids] learn to raise their own food; they learn that they really do like fresh vegetables,” said Dalton.
They are continuously updating the garden and making it better. Their next project is to convert the 40-by-20-foot barn into a classroom and are hoping to have that up and running in the next few weeks.
The garden is located at 300 16th Street SW; click here to visit the Facebook page. To find out more about the programs offered from the Boys and Girls club, visit https://bgc-cc.org
