THOMASVILLE – Local students added some more sweat equity Friday to the city’s growing community garden.

Students from Thomasville High School built and delivered a storage building to Habitat for Humanity of Thomasville’s community garden Friday morning, adding to the growing list of structures the students have built for the nonprofit.

Needing a storage building to store garden tools for Thomasville’s first community garden, Habitat for Humanity of Thomasville requested the help of the high school’s Carpentry II class to build the structure, said Greg Rice, the nonprofit’s executive director. Students in the high school’s carpentry and Masonry II class spent the beginning of their school day Friday unloading the storage building at the community garden on Memorial Park Drive.

Steve Lambeth, the instructor of Thomasville High School’s Carpentry II class, said it took his students six days to build the storage building.

“I think they did a great job,” said Lambeth, noting his class has built six homes over several years for Habitat. “It’s getting us ready because we are going to build two Habitat houses this year.”

Alex Byrd, a senior in the carpentry class, said it was a good idea for his class to build the storage building for Habitat for Humanity of Thomasville. “It helps people who are less fortunate be able to have something to eat,” Byrd said of the garden. Byrd added that he enjoyed working on the storage building.

“I learned a lot of things from it,” he said. “I learned how to put on the roofing and a bunch of different stuff about framing.”

Rice, while watching the students place the storage building near the garden, said the class did a “beautiful job” on the structure.

“It’s an invaluable resource for Habitat for Humanity, but at the same time, we like to feel that we provide a learning platform for the school system,” Rice said. “It’s important for them to have that hands-on experience. That’s what makes it such a good partnership.”

In addition to the help of Thomasville High School, the Davidson County Community College Ambassadors Group will be painting the storage building.

Habitat for Humanity of Thomasville, Thomasville Councilman David Yemm and the Rev. Mike Lamm, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Thomasville, joined together earlier this year to start community garden. The garden was free for anyone to pick from it this summer, Lamm said recently.

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