Article: McKnight awards: Game to help

November 20, 2008 - Patrice Relerford, Star Tribune. Two North Side sisters who created a student garden are among several people who will receive McKnight awards today.

Proud North Siders Robin and Starla Krause watched for years as businesses, families and city officials all seemed to abandon their neighborhood near Loring Elementary School. But five years ago, after their local school and library barely escaped closure, the sisters got fed up. To reenergize their neighborhood, they started with what they knew best — food.

Today, they'll be among seven Minnesotans with long histories of community service who will receive the 2008 Virginia McKnight Binger Awards in Human Service from the McKnight Foundation.

The program recognizes Minnesotans who demonstrate a "personal commitment to helping others in their communities but who have received little or no public recognition."

Since 2003, the Krause sisters have been building relationships with Loring Elementary and started Kids Cook Classroom, a healthy-cooking program that now includes every student at the school. The $10,000 McKnight award they'll receive will help fund the program and eventually be used to create scholarships.

"We had always had this dream," Robin Krause said. "We grew up in 4H."

The Krauses eventually took over an underused plot of land near Loring and transformed it into a garden the school uses to teach students about plant science, nutrition and even math.

"Math comes alive even when you're baking bread [because you need to measure the ingredients]," Starla Krause said.

Most days they are fixtures at Loring and attract smiles and waves from students and staff members as they walk the school's halls en route to the kitchen or a classroom. Neighborhood families volunteer to water the garden seven months of the year. Loring students plant the seeds and harvest everything from strawberries, apples and rhubarb to corn, lettuce and broccoli.

"My window opens right out to the garden, and I overhear the conversations. It's like having an aunt who takes an interest in you," said Loring Principal Jane Thompson. "And it's learning in a natural childlike way."

When asked what they like best about the garden and their time with "Miss Starla and Miss Robin," Gavin Laurent and Ebelin Morales, both 9, said that they enjoy gardening and that the fruit and vegetables they've grown look and taste better than produce from stores.

"The apples from the store are mushy," Gavin said.

They helped Starla Krause bake pumpkin bread on a recent morning and used several ingredients harvested from the garden. It will be served at an American Indian-inspired feast that the school will host this week.

"We've seen this neighborhood go through stages," Starla Krause said. "Now young diverse families are here; it all makes for a better community."

Patrice Relerford is at  prelerford@startribune.com
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