Gus the Garden Bus was a wonderful community asset for the Cartwright Community School District. It was an old school bus that has been transformed into a beautiful garden area where local children could learn about the science of plant growth through a hands-on gardening experience. These gardens also give teachers the opportunity to teach kids about proper nutrition and how to have a healthy relationship with food.

Gus was placed in the Cartwright Community Garden as part of the 5 garden sites in Maricopa County that were installed on Valley of the Sun United Way’s Day of Action in September. Unfortunately, the bus and garden were destroyed after being vandalized and set on fire in October.

Thankfully, on Saturday, January 6, with the tremendous help of hundreds of volunteers from the Phoenix Fire Department, Phoenix Police Department, Valley Women’s Firefighter Society, and community volunteers, United Way installed 22 new garden beds to keep the learning experience going for the students. The district was even able to retrieve a new garden bus! The bus was emptied out, cleaned, and painted by Valley Women’s Firefighter Society in preparation for the upcoming planting for all of these garden beds.

To see so many people from the fire department, police department, and community members come together with United Way to restore this garden was incredible. We can’t wait to see more progress when we return to plant in the installed gardens soon.

Gardens like this are going up in communities throughout the Valley. You can be a hand-raiser for the next garden prep taking place in Guadalupe on Friday, January 12 and Saturday, January 13 and volunteer with us! Click below to sign up.

Volunteer January 12 OR Volunteer January 13