This spring, HMEA was awarded a grant from the Henry W. Bull Foundation for a Horticultural program at the Millbury Program Center. This grant enabled the program to support the purchase of many supplies, such as soil, plants, a planting table, ergonomically accessible gardening tools, a composter, gloves and much more. In just a few months, the outcome has been amazing and has not only sprouted plants, but also some smiles.

In May, Jan Rusiecke was introduced to the Millbury Day Hab program and she will be assisting us in growing this program and educating our individuals and staff all about gardening. Jan had been with DDS (Department of Development Services) for 35 years and has experience in various positions including education, training and community homes. She is currently retired and is looking to sharing her hobbies with people with disabilities.

Jan has brought some wonderful projects to the program that are interactive for the staff and individuals. The program began by planting sunflowers from seed and learning how to utilize resources such as soda bottles to create green houses for the seedlings. The result—over 100 sprouted seeds! Along with this, individuals have also discovered herbs and vegetables. Tomato plants have been placed in large planters and an herb garden has been planted that has sparked lots of talk about our senses.

Over the summer we have been learning about composting and utilizing it for future planting. On June 26th a group participated in a tour of the Grafton Community Harvest Project. The Project currently has thousands of volunteers that come together every year to help plant, tend and harvest hundreds of thousands of pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables for their neighbors in need. In Worcester County, over 99,000 people use hunger relief services through local food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. Community Harvest Project provides a consistent supply of high quality, highly nutritious fresh fruits and vegetables that are distributed throughout these hunger relief organizations.

Overall our gardening project is growing and so are our gardens! Jan has been an excellent asset to the project. She has created a planting calendar for us to follow, and has expressed her excitement seeing the socialization and camaraderie that has come from sharing her love of gardening. We are looking forward to seeing what else sprouts up from this amazing project!