March 29, 2018

Garden

At any age, gardening is one of the best activities we can do outdoors. It stimulates all the senses, awakens our connection with nature and with our companions, and rewards us with fresh flowers and nutritious fruits and vegetables.

Through funding from New York City Food collaboration with Shorefront JCC, we were able to use space in the back of The Leader Family Food Pantry to create a community Garden for our seniors. The project originally started in April when a group of volunteers from RAJE came to help clear out the space and set up planting beds for seniors.

Since then, we are excited to report that our seniors have been getting together every two weeks to plant, clean and maintain this amazing garden. Presently, our seniors are growing tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, celery, and grapes alongside lilies and daisies.

Gardening is an excellent way for seniors to socialize and get a moderate-intensity aerobic workout and stay flexible.

Mrs. M has dementia and she is constantly hungry. She specifically wants fruit often. Her food stamps just do not cover the amount of food she needs every month especially since she likes fresh produce. I spend time searching for sales on fruit for her. Without the food pantry at SJCC she would not be able to be sustained on the amount of money she has each month for food.

Annie, Mrs. M’s home attendant