On Monday, April 21, Jes Eldrige, head of School at Battle Creek Montessori Academy came to school thinking that it was going to be a great Earth Day. To her dismay, she realized that 10 fruit tree saplings were stolen from the school that were to be planted by students before they could put them into the ground. The $200 that it cost to purchase the trees was donated by the staff of BCMA.
As word of the apparent theft spread, parents and businesses donated money and replacement trees. Those trees were planted on Wednesday by the students.
“A really bad day turned into a really good day,” Jes Eldridge said. “It was awesome to see the community come together. Most importantly, it was great for the students to see how much the community cared and helped out.”
They anticipate that they will have a really good orchard in the next few years. Students will learn to care for the trees and eventually harvest fruit.
Many news outlets picked up the story and published it. Take a look at the other articles and video clips below.