Funding is a “total game-changer” for St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School
Posted: July 8, 2026
Categories: nourish to flourish
People often call St. Catharines, Ontario the “Garden City,” but right here in our inner-city neighbourhood, life can be quite tough for many of our families. St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School is a cozy, vibrant community of 240 students from Kindergarten to Grade 8. Many of our families are new to Canada, navigating single-parent households, low incomes, or the stress of moving frequently. For our kids, opportunities to explore the world outside of our school walls, their immediate neighbourhood or get their hands dirty with real-world, practical learning are incredibly rare.
That is why the “nourish to flourish” grant was such a breath of fresh air for us. Honestly, it was a total game-changer. For kids who have never held a hammer or seen a home workshop, being able to work with real lumber, safety gear, and building tools was an absolute thrill. Our Grade 6/7 class took the lead on the project during March and April. They designed and built three things: wooden planter boxes, bird feeders, and bird houses. These projects are helping us kickstart a school vegetable garden to teach the kids about growing food, while the feeders and bird houses are bringing some lovely local birds and natural life right into our schoolyard.
We have to give a massive shoutout to our Grade 6/7 teacher, Mr. Camden McGowan, who truly championed this project. He turned his classroom into a bustling workshop, taught safety guidelines, and showed the kids how classroom math actually works in the real world. What made Mr. McGowan’s contribution so special was his endless patience. He created a space where everyone—including our new English language learners and kids with diverse learning needs—felt safe to handle tools, make mistakes, and learn.
The project brought so much learning to life. The kids used math like area, perimeter, and fractions to plan their designs, and even calculated the costs of materials. Just as importantly, they learned how to work together. When things didn’t line up, they couldn’t just give up; they had to talk, listen, and figure it out.
The kids summed it up beautifully in our spring newsletter: “Building these projects was fun, a little difficult, and unlike anything we’ve ever done before – we turned into mini construction workers! We also learned a lot. We learned how to read markings and instructions on wood, we learned about the design process, and we learned about how much lumber and materials actually cost. We found that building required us to trust each other, communicate well, and use skills like patience, resilience, and perseverance.”
Thanks to this grant, our school yard now has the physical foundations of a garden we can grow together. As our new planter boxes fill with soil and we wait for the first birds to nest in the trees, we know the real impact of this project will keep feeding, teaching, and inspiring our kids for years to come.