Seniors and Sprouts: Growing Relationships Through Gardening
Humanitarian Social Innovations is proud to welcome Seniors and Sprouts to our community of social entrepreneurs.
Across Pennsylvania’s Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties, beautiful green spaces bursting with native flowers and gardens ripe with fresh herbs and food are popping up in unexpected places — around billboards, in neighborhoods and office courtyards, and even inside classrooms. It’s not the work of magic; it’s a labor of love by William “Corky” Sheeler and his nonprofit organization, Seniors and Sprouts, which connects community members of all ages through gardening.
For Sheeler, gardening started as a personal hobby but grew into an organization when he realized the potential benefits of involving the community and using horticulture as a means for positive impact.
“I want to make it easier for people to stay involved with gardening. Instead of ‘community garden,’ I want to start using the term ‘garden community,’” Sheeler said.
Food Pallet Garden and IntoECO Programs Serve the Community
The nonprofit’s Food Pallet Garden and IntoECO programs help make the goal of a ‘garden community’ a reality. Through the Food Pallet Garden program, Seniors and Sprouts provides and installs gardening pallets, known as Food Pallets, to those who make a donation to the organization. The pallets take only about 30 minutes to set up, are weed-free, require less water than traditional gardens and, depending on what plants are cultivated, can yield pounds of fresh food.
“I give Food Pallets away for a donation, with the caveat that donors say they will try to get youth involved with gardening,” Sheeler said.
The IntoECO program aims to bring Seniors and Sprouts’ mission to companies and public spaces by “working with businesses to help them go greener and show the neighborhood that they want to be greener,” Sheeler said. He has worked with local companies including A.D. Moyer Lumber and Cedarville Engineering Group LLC (CEG) to clean up the land around billboards, plant native flowers and design rain gardens, which utilize rain runoff from buildings and gutters to more efficiently spread water through the soil.
Through these key programs, Sheeler seeks to benefit the community and showcase the mutual benefits that are possible when people — seniors and children, companies and communities — connect with each other and the planet.
“We can build and we can eat if we just work together a little bit at a time,” Sheeler said.
Connecting Seniors with Sprouts
An important part of Seniors and Sprouts’ work is helping people in the community forge relationships with those whom they might not otherwise connect with — namely, seniors and youths.
“The seniors can share their wisdom, and at the same time teach youths to garden without chemicals,” Sheeler said. “In this ever-changing and diverse world, seniors and youths gardening together is a natural common ground.”
He added that the programs are not limited to the very elderly and very young; he has worked with families, classrooms and organizations comprised of people of all ages.
With the support of volunteers and donors, Sheeler hopes to grow his program even more within the community, give away more gardens and work with more community members to share the importance of human connection, environmental sustainability and fresh, home-grown food.
Humanitarian Social Innovations is pleased to sponsor and serve Seniors and Sprouts in order to maximize its impact on the local community. You can support the club below.