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Fairfield Gardeners Lend a Hand to Kennedy Center

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A two-foot lift might not seem like much. But for those who attend the Kennedy Center’s educational programs for people with developmental disabilities, it can be just the lift they need to turn a problem into a great learning experience. So a team of Fairfield volunteers got together last week to give them that boost.

Eric Frisk, volunteer coordinator for the Fairfield Community Garden, and a group of Girl Scouts from North Stratfield School worked together to help patients from the Kennedy Center into the garden. Frisk put together raised wooden boxes to help the wheelchair-bound Kennedy Center clients access the garden. The girls came out Friday to install and fill the boxes to get them ready for planting.

“We came and looked around, and said, ‘I don’t know if it’ll be safe for these guys to come in,’” said Ken Fossesigurani, a community inclusion counselor at the Kennedy Center.  “Within a week, they called me back and said, ‘We’re going to make this work.’ ”

Fossesigurani said the garden boxes will be used in a garden-to-table educational program. Kennedy Center attendees will grow their own vegetables in the garden, harvest them and use them in cooking classes.

The Fairfield Community Garden sits on Warde Terrace, across the street from the Parish Court Elder Housing complex. Frisk, one of the volunteers who started the garden 16 years ago, now oversees the forty-six 200-square-foot plots on-site.

Along with serving families who’ve picked out plots for their own use, the garden hosts volunteer and educational groups. Seniors from the Parish Court complex across the street own a few plots and use the garden to get outside and stay active. Youth groups like the Girl Scouts use the spoils in cooking classes or as donations to the food pantry at Operation Hope.

“A lot of people grow for their own, but a lot of people also grow just to donate,” Frisk said.

Frisk added that he’s always looking for volunteers to help harvest vegetables in the plots designated for Operation Hope. Those interested in lending a hand can contact him at efrisk@optonline.net

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