Once of my most passionate and rewarding endeavors each year is that of our Annual Go Green Community Build Project. Each year our team brings the elements of gardening to a nonprofit institution here in Saratoga County. Through the comraderie and “get your hands dirty” efforts of volunteers, a beautiful, sustainable water garden arises in just one day.
Everyday our news brings us stories of folks unable to work together across all lines of business, politics, local community efforts and a mirad of personal and business relationships. Yet one day spent giving back to the community through healthy physical labor, working side by side in a garden yields a wonderful spirit, experience and outcome for a local service organization. At the end of the day, each volunteer feels a true sense of accomplishment and pride in their work, albeit some sore and tired muscles along the way.
If you have never had an opportunity to be part of something of this nature…I highly recommend you do so. It showcases the American spirit in business and humanity at its best! At the end of the day, each volunteer feels a true sense of accomplishment and pride in their work. And the community will see and experience the outcome of their efforts for years and years to come! This will be the fifth year we have had the priviledge of organizing such a project. We continue to hear inspiring stories of how these community build projects have impacted the Wesley Community, National Museum of Dance, The Guardian House and Brookside Museum.
This year has a special place in my heart as the project will directly benefit children and their families. It has allowed me to bring my old pediatric occupational therapy skills to the forefront to offer a bit of nature in the city to the Mechanicville Area Community Center. Children experiencing hands on, sensory generating nature is a critical part of their learning process. Gardens give children the real life experience flat screens and keyboards cannot. Real wild life, plant growth and natural ecosystems beat the familiar animated entertainment that fills children’s lives today.
So as you spend the final days of winter pondering your garden plans for 2014 season, consider how you might give your garden time and talents to youth to teach them to be critical thinking, social beings as well as stewards of their environment. Time spent on behalf of our community service organizations allows each one of us in our small way to “pay it forward”.
