Employees of Wyman’s Blueberries spend Thursday volunteering in community garden

WINTER HARBOR, Maine (WABI) - The employees at Wyman’s spent the day giving back to their Downeast community.

The annual “Wildly Better Days” with Wyman’s is a day full of fun and volunteer work.

A tradition of helping the Women for Healthy Rural Living.

The group helps develop healthy habits and opportunities in Downeast Maine.

“We sent out a direct mail piece and just were, hey, can you please send us money? And Wyman’s contacted us and said we want to be an annual supporter of yours,” said Susan Jordan Bennett, Associate Director for Women for Healthy Rural Living.

On Thursday, they helped build and plant two community vegetable gardens.

The larger of the two is at Milbridge Commons Wellness Park.

“We have a crew across the street at the beautiful park, and we have a crew down at the Red Barn finishing up some grounds work there, building compost bins, gardening and such,” said April Norton, Wyman’s Senior Director of Human Resources.

More than 25,000 square feet of fresh vegetables is so much more than just a big community project. It’s a reliable food source over the summer.

“In some cases, it’s as basic as a woman stopping and saying this is the first summer where I haven’t been hungry. In other cases, it’s folks saying I’m not eligible for the food pantry, but I don’t have enough to eat. That’s the thing about these gardens. They are for everybody,” said Bennett.

“We just really want to get this kickstarted, get this rolling, so they can really focus on more developments for the gardens themselves,” said Norton.

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