PITTSTON — The local school will be holding its annual plant sale on Saturday, aiming to help fund student enrichment programs as in past years but to also pay for repairs to its greenhouse, which was damaged by this past winter’s storms. 

The sale, which runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., will be at Pittston-Randolph Consolidated School at 1023 Pittston School St.  

It’s an event in honor of a local student who died more than 40 years ago. Allison Keaveney was a fourth-grader at the school when she was struck and killed by a car in December 1982 while trying to cross the road in ice skates. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Keaveney family and fourth-grade teacher Ida Mae Hunt began the tradition of students selling plants at the school to raise money for arts and humanities projects in memory of Keaveney.

A Kennebec Journal news clipping published Dec. 24, 1982.

The school uses the funds to bring arts and humanities special events to the school for students.

Planning for the sale begins in January and planting begins in April. There is a school-wide annual planting day in spring, when students from grades K-5 can watch the full life cycle of plants and learn how to care for them.

“Students are able to have a hands-on experience with growing plants, some of which are edible and go from seed to table,” said Tiffany Cockrell, principal at Pittston-Randolph Consolidated School.  

The temperatures in the greenhouse can’t be controlled, so all of the seedlings are started inside the school in two grow labs and in windowsills in classrooms. Another teacher also starts growing more seedlings at home, according to the plant sale committee. Most of the materials to grow the plants are donated, with community members dropping off used pots throughout the year that the school then uses in the following year’s potting.  

The greenhouse, which was dedicated to Allison Keaveney when it was built about a decade ago, houses many of the plants that are grown for the plant sale. This past December the greenhouse sustained damage during the winter storms and is in the process of being repaired.

Most of the repairs have been paid for with donations of materials and labor, according to the committee, but more work remains.

All the money raised from the plant sale goes directly into the Allison Keaveney fund, which is used to provide field trips and enrichment related to the arts and humanities for the students.  The fund also supports the annual carnival that the school holds at the end of the year, with musical entertainment and art supplies for various creative projects done by students.  

“This year, we hope to cover not only enrichment and field trips, but also materials that we purchased to make repairs to the greenhouse,” Cockrell said. 

The plants that are sold include a variety of annuals and perennials, both flowers and vegetable seedlings. The school also relies on donations from other greenhouses and community members and wholesales a small amount from Longfellow’s Greenhouse in Manchester.  

On the day of the sale a group of community members, parents, teachers, and students help out. Any leftover seedlings are offered to students for a minimal amount, whether they were at the sale or not.