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- Tim O’Keeffe, CEO
- 07/19/2018
Last fall, the Salina Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter and halfway house in Salina, KS, submitted a Project Drive grant request for raised bed gardens. The idea was to not only save on food expenses by raising crops, but the act of caring for a garden also provides a sense of self-worth to clients of the Rescue Mission. Project Drive is Huyett’s annual signature charity and community development program.
The project got management and teams at Huyett thinking about the idea of gardening and the notion of expanding the garden to encompass a community. And so, this past spring an area just beyond our parking lot was developed and planted using the volunteer labor of our employees.
In all honesty, it was more work than anticipated to start up, but since the completion of the infrastructure, the
Community Garden has been a smashing success. Two picnic tables were installed recently so that employees can have lunch surrounded by “plant-friends,” or make that “pets,” cared for by fellow coworkers. Early harvest has begun and some of the early produce has been shared with employees, and was recently cooked at a Company Picnic. It was yummy!
Community Garden has been a smashing success. Two picnic tables were installed recently so that employees can have lunch surrounded by “plant-friends,” or make that “pets,” cared for by fellow coworkers. Early harvest has begun and some of the early produce has been shared with employees, and was recently cooked at a Company Picnic. It was yummy!
Individual volunteers have reported on the peaceful tranquility that exists when on a summer Kansas evening, they can pull weeds and watch the fireflies arrive as the sun sets for the night. Some employees walk the garden for exercise at noon during workdays. It has become a gathering place.
As we pass mid-summer, an abundant harvest is anticipated, the bulk of which will be dispatched to families in need. Another harvest will happen – a harvest of the spirit gratified that one’s hands have spread good news and beauty in the world.
As I write this, I find myself hearing these words of the song “Trouble in the Fields” by folk singer Nanci Griffith, a song written about farming during the Great Depression:
You’ll be the mule I’ll be the plow
Come harvest time we’ll work it out
There’s still a lot of love, here in these troubled fields
The
Community Garden is a Field of Peace. There are no troubles here.
Community Garden is a Field of Peace. There are no troubles here.
Huyett’s Community Garden is one of many charitable projects the Company engages in to develop a community of value-added communities building community in order to create a better world for us all to live and work in.
How are you or your organizations working together to give back to your communities?