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Recognizing Earth Day by Celebrating the HealthFinders Community Garden

daydigginsnichole

Updated: Mar 9, 2024




Today is Earth Day, a time when people all over the world come together in activities to help protect the environment, such as cleaning up trash, planting trees, and reducing waste. Here at HealthFinders, we want to highlight our community garden initiative, which is one way we take advantage of our outdoor space to grow and distribute healthy food, allow volunteers to get outdoors, and provide a compost bin for community use. Dedicated volunteers and garden experts help cultivate the diverse community garden at our Faribault location throughout the year. The garden is 100% organic and aims to encourage healthy eating. Dr. Bob Aby, one of our providers who also volunteers in the garden, says the two main goals of the community garden are “to ensure our clients have access to fresh, and perhaps new vegetables that they can easily use to cook with for their families, and to bring our community together for a common cause.”



The community garden initiative directly supports HealthFinders’ overall mission. We strive to evaluate patients holistically and promote healthy lifestyle changes when applicable, as opposed to only prescribing medications. This includes connecting patients with resources for healthy living, such as vegetables from the community garden, Zumba classes, and diabetes programs. When food is harvested from the garden, some of it goes to our food pantry in Faribault, some is placed in our clinic waiting rooms for patients to take home, and sometimes, HealthFinders staff will hand it out directly throughout the community, making it available and accessible to all. Another HealthFinders value that comes through in the community garden effort is cultural inclusivity. When the project first started, volunteers conducted surveys in the community to determine which types of produce would be most culturally appropriate to grow. Knowing that many Rice County community members are Somali or Latinx, we made sure to plant foods that these populations traditionally use to cook with – such as potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs.



Anyone Can Get Involved The community garden offers a great opportunity for community members to get involved at HealthFinders outside of the clinic setting, since no specific experience or skills are required. COVID-19 safety precautions are followed as volunteer groups are kept small, masks are worn, social distancing is observed, and the work takes place outside. This way, volunteers can meet new people and contribute to the greater good of the community while still staying safe during the pandemic. Community volunteers are not the only ones who get involved in cultivating the community garden. Starting in February this year, the HealthFinders community engagement team took home plants to start growing at home so they could be transplanted to the garden in spring! Staff had fun contributing and seeing their plants grow, even during the winter. As spring continues and the weather warms up, the need for volunteers to help harvest and maintain the garden will be growing. Now is a great time to get involved and celebrate Earth Day. You can sign up to volunteer online, or call 507.323.8100 to inquire. You can also make a donation to HealthFinders to contribute to the community garden.

Special thanks to Susanna McDowell, a longtime HealthFinders volunteer who spearheaded the community garden effort and continues to dedicate a generous amount of time and care toward maintaining it.

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