Yes, all Rotary Members in the USA (and beyond) get their monthly hard-copy ROTARY Magazine mailed to them at home. But do we read it? Ummm, well I have to confess, it depends! HOWEVER, take a look at the current issue; it’s inspirational:Now Go to PAGE 21! What do you see?
Oh, it’s a promotion, encouraging members to donate to the Rotary Foundation which, as Club Foundation Chair I totally endorse, BUT LOOK AGAIN AT THE PICTURE. What do you see?
Does the Rotary Community Corps of Sturbridge & Southbridge have a familiar ring about it? How about its “Community Food Collaborative” project, the one that annually provides 3,000 pounds of cleaned produce to the St. John Paul II Food Pantry in Southbridge! ……….. Hallelujah, you got it now, right!
We, the Sturbridge and Southbridge Rotary Clubs made this magic happen by providing the means and doing the legwork to have Rotary International formally charter this Rotary Community Corps in 2017.
But what about the picture? It’s one of the photos taken by a professional photographer who in 2023 spent a Sunday morning with us in our garden behind Sturbridge Town Hall. In it you see RCC President (Head Cabbage) Joe Coan PHF, with his children Jeremiah and Hannah. Joe is explaining the function of the irrigation system to his children.
It was Joe, a professional landscape architect and president of JCLA ( https://www.jcladesign.com/ ) who in 2016 came to our Rotary club telling that he wanted to start a community garden. He deserves enormous credit for this achievement and its continued success; that’s no small commitment and achievement!
So here’s my suggestion. Don’t go to the garden when it’s buried in snow, but do familiarize yourself with the amazing job some of our local Rotarians and community volunteers do there. Take a look in March, April, May, ……….. September, October! Why, because that’s when the action is!
It’s not just your regular gardening as your grandfather knew it, but goes into some technically sophisticated mechanisms employing solar panels, computerized water storage and distribution via underground pipes, then hops onto the 40+ raised beds directly to the plants, in order to minimize water wastage by evaporation.
Klaus Hachfeld
Sturbridge Rotary Club, Exec. Secretary & Foundation Chair
Sturbridge Rotary Club, Exec. Secretary & Foundation Chair