Ameritex Movers donates $1,000 to assist the Alief Community Garden

On Tuesday, April 10 the staff and students of Youngblood Intermediate in the International District were presented with a $1,000 donation from Ms. Beth Rohani, MVP of Ameritex Movers, to assist students with their building birdhouses projects for the Alief Community Garden. Ms. Rohani said “I believe in supporting our community and our children by helping to fund creative projects”. The donation by Ameritex Movers is one of many charitable interests supported by Ameritex Movers in the district. Ms. Rohani is a board member of the International District.

Community garden advocate and President of the Alief Super neighborhood, Barbara Quattro, was also on hand for the ceremony. She said that “Youngblood has a plot at the garden and Alief Science Teacher, Ms. Erin Gilbert, and I had talked about how successful gardening is dependent on many facets of nature such as birds, bats, and bees. She thought that she could tie all these elements together in her environmental studies while her kids were participating in a creative project”. The birdhouses were built by kids at Hastings and were delivered to Ms. Gilbert along with a box of various colored paints which were donated by another member of the community. The kids decorated the birdhouses and studied the role of birds in gardens. Ms. Rohani was impressed by the project so she made a donation to the school, which we deeply appreciate.”

Science Teacher, Erin Gilbert, also on hand for the ceremonies, shared that “after Hurricane Harvey our students learned that there is an increase in disease that use mosquitos as a vector after hurricanes (such as West Nile, Zika, etc.) We hoped to increase the population of purple martins or bats as they are predators to mosquitos. After some student research we determined that purple martins would be our focus. Erin applied for a Nature Works Everywhere Grant to help with our efforts and to improve the Alief Community Garden. Sadly, the grant didn’t fund, but that certainly didn’t quell local efforts and we were thrilled to receive a generous donation from Ms. Rohani of Ameritex Movers to help fund the installation of student created bird houses. Our sixth graders are pleased to leave their mark that represents the pride that goes into our gardening, community-building, and our studies at Youngblood Intermediate School and are very grateful to Ms. Rohani for her generous support of the project and our community.”