On a beautiful brisk Tuesday morning, people supported with day services at Wheatley Farms and farm staff welcomed volunteers from Webster Bank for an inclusive volunteer project. Together, the group spent four hours pulling out weeds, cleaning up debris, and tossing out spent flowers and vegetables.
Leading the group of sixteen volunteers was Farm Education Manager Kimberly Nistal, and ten men and women from day program who have been working at the farm for the last few months.
“All these beds were vegetable gardens over the summer, so we are cleaning up the old spent plants, pulling them out and fixing the soil beds by adding a layer of compost from the farm,” said Kim. “That way next season there’s extra nutrients in the soil.”
The men and women in day program learned all the systems and processes of the farm. They learned to maintain the compost pile by turning it regularly and watering it to prevent it from drying. The reward for all this hard work was a substantial sum of organic material ready for them to prepare the garden for the cool months ahead.
Tracy Zhang has participated in the Wheatley Farms Day Program since late 2023. She joined after attending a program at HorseAbility, a center for equine-facilitated services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). At Wheatley Farms, Tracy enjoys helping with the horses and farm animals: feeding them, cleaning their stables and spending time on the farm overall. Tracy also picked up a new skill, gardening.
She is especially thankful to be in this current program, which allowed her to pick up an additional skill, gardening. “This is a really good place for me. I meet a lot of people here and they are nice to me,” said Tracy. She welcomed the additional help on the farm and guided the volunteers through the tasks she was working on. Together they worked on pulling spent tomato plants and plucking weeds from the marigold bunches.
“They helped me with everything,” said Tracy. “If there was something I needed, they helped. We cleaned the beds, put in the compost. They did a good job.”
Volunteer and Project Coordinator Jerri Walker organized the inclusive project with Webster Bank Regional Director, Maria DeJesus. The company has a robust corporate giving program and contributes to nonprofits in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island. Webster team members contribute up to sixteen volunteer hours a year and typically do so individually. This occasion was a first for Maria and her team of managers, where they volunteered together.
“It’s good camaraderie, getting together as a group,” said Maria. “They are all busy because they all manage offices that are busy. This was a good day to be out and about in nature doing something good.”
Inclusive volunteering projects like this help strengthen community bonds. Webster Bank is one of many group volunteers who have joined people receiving day services to work on the farm. Past volunteers included students from the Portledge School in Locust Valley, Jericho High School and Purolator International.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities, visit ahrc.org/volunteer.