“Planting seeds” is an analogy often used in figurative language to describe how someone goes about teaching people to be self-reliant.

However, members of The Hope Project are working on a program which will literally plant seeds and teach people the skills of raising food and managing a business. Hope, a local faith-based organization, currently provides single women with computer training and other skills to help them find jobs.

Beau McClain, speaking for Hope, asked the Douglas County Board of Education (BOE) Monday night for permission to use an old greenhouse which has sat idle on the Douglas County High campus for about seven years.

“We want to use the facility to produce organic vegetables and sell the produce,” McClain told the BOE meeting. “We’ll take care of all expenses and provide insurance. It’ll be no cost whatsoever to the school system.”

He said in addition to providing food and jobs for the community, the greenhouse would also be an educational opportunity for high school students to earn credits or perform community service.

“The future is in partnerships, between business, education, civic groups and faith-based organizations,” McClain said. “Raising taxes, bigger budgets and more government programs is not the answer.”

School Superintendent Don Remillard said such cooperative ventures are common in school districts.

“I’ve asked McClain to draft a memorandum of agreement between his group and the school district,” Remillard said. “Our attorney will review it and make sure it’s done correctly. The document will outline the purpose of the program and hold the school system harmless from any potential lawsuits.”

The memorandum will then have to be approved by the BOE in a future meeting.

“We want to put back into use something that has been sitting idle for years,” said Pastor Frank Smith, Hope executive director. “We see a great opportunity to partner with the school system, at no cost to them, and provide something that can be used by the community.”

Smith said the greenhouse will be used to grow seedlings which can then be planted in gardens so people can grow their own food.

“We can use our students from The Hope Project to learn the process of raising food from seed to market,” he said. “It can also help high school students learn business and farming. I see it as a win-win-win program all the way around.”

Smith predicted the yet-to-be-named project will serve as a flagship program for other communities and school systems. He said the plan already has gained promises of support from local agencies such as The Pantry, United Way, Master Gardeners, Project One, Atlanta Community Food Bank, Faith in Action and others.

“We hope to get our first planting in the spring,” Smith said Thursday.

Michael Brantley of Douglasville, a retired horticulture teacher who once taught Douglas County High classes in the greenhouse, said the facility was built during major renovation at the school in 1993 to replace an earlier greenhouse. The renovation came after a fire destroyed much of the original administration building facing Campbellton Street.

“The greenhouse was state-of-the-art back then,” Brantley said Thursday. “It has a cooling system that is based on the one used at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.”

He noted the greenhouse uses glass windows, something not often found on high school program greenhouses. It has a special ventilation system running through the middle of the roof and a cooling system using micro misting. A gas boiler provides heat, he said.

Brantley, who retired in 2000, speculated that the greenhouse will likely need some extensive renovation since he believes it hasn’t been used since about 2003.

However, Smith feels the greenhouse program can be up and running in time for a spring planting.

“We’re looking for stakeholders to provide seed money to get it up and running,” he said. “We have land given to us to start a garden and space for retailing the produce.”

As for the project name, Smith said, “We might hold a contest for that.”