Volunteers get garden in shape

#Middlebury

Ameriprise Financial volunteers are hard at work in the Middlebury Senior Center/Social Services garden. In three hours, they weeded, cleaned the garden, and planted and fertilized a variety of vegetables. (JoAnn Cappelletti photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

Every summer, the community garden at Shepardson Community Center grows vegetables for Middlebury seniors and Middlebury Food Bank clients. This year, Social Services Director JoAnn Cappelletti was about to give up on the garden. She didn’t have enough volunteers to keep it going. “It was either abandon the garden or get some volunteers to come in and help with it,” she said.

Then the call came from Ameriprise Financial. The caller explained they did a community service project every year and asked if Cappelletti might have a project for them. Cappelletti said she needed help with the community garden, and the response was they could help her with that.

On June 28, a crew of 14 showed up at 9 a.m. and worked until noon. “They did everything,” Cappelletti said. She said they showed up with tools, fertilizer and plants. They weeded, cleaned the garden, and planted and fertilized the plants.

“They were so easy to work with, and they all got along so well,” she said. “They knew exactly what they were doing. They came and went so fast I didn’t even get their names.”

Their efforts are paying off. Cappelletti said she already has harvested zucchini, spaghetti squash, jalapeno peppers, cucumber and yellow squash. The vegetables are given to seniors and to food bank clients, who donate if they can.

Garden volunteers are needed to weed, water and harvest the vegetables because some of the volunteers who usually help are temporarily unable to do so. Cappelletti and her husband, Bob, have been doing what they can, and one man has been coming to help weed, but it’s a lot of work for three people.

The most challenging task is watering. The hose hooks up at the opposite end of Shepardson from the garden and has to be laid diagonally across the length of the parking lot before watering can begin. However, volunteers can choose to instead hand water from two water barrels kept in the garden.

To volunteer to help with the garden, call Cappelletti at 203-577-4166.