Morningside Elementary partnerships pay off

Thanks to a partnership between Morningside Elementary and Murphy’s, the school was able to receive funds donated from dineouts held at the Virginia-Highlands restaurant between January and April. The dineouts were one Monday each month, with 10 percent of Murphy’s sales given to Seed-n-Feed — the school’s partner for its garden.

In total, Morningside received more than $5,000 from Murphy’s this year for the garden and farm to school programming. This is in addition to the assistance the school receives from Chef Tom Harvey, who holds food tastings for the students. Tom Murphy, owner of Murphy’s, also sits on the board for Seed-n-Feed.

Dineouts will continue to be held to benefit the garden next year. Funds will be used to send a Morningside teacher to the Edible Schoolyard Academy in Berkeley, Calif., and for a greenhouse, in addition to funding the program for the next school year. Morningside is a finalist for the Atlanta Partners for Education’s (APFE) 2010 A+ Awards under the Collaborative category for work with this partner (and others).