To the Editor:

We’re happy to report that residents, staff, volunteers, and donors recently celebrated the reopening of the newly enhanced Community Garden at Harriet Bryan House and Elm Court. The Community Garden, with new features including numerous raised planting beds, installation of wheelchair accessible table top planters, and a new patio and pergola for garden workshops, is truly a symbol of the power of people working together for a common goal.

Elm Court and Harriet Bryan House are affordable housing communities located at 300 and 310 Elm Road and are affiliates of Princeton Community Housing (PCH). Both communities provide rental housing to those 62 and older while Elm Court also provides housing for mobility-impaired persons.

The Community Garden was originally proposed in 2009 by Mike Maloney, a landscape designer with Mapleton Nurseries, to provide residents with an opportunity to realize the therapeutic and community benefits of gardening. The upgrades in this latest phase of the Community Garden’s continued evolution were made possible through Mike’s determination and ceaseless energy to coordinate the volunteer efforts of PCH residents and staff, as well as a steadfast team of volunteers and contributors from the greater Princeton community.

In addition to a $10,000 grant from the Church & Dwight 2013 Employee Giving Fund and a significant amount of in kind services from Mike and his colleagues at Maspro-Imagery, generous donations of funds, material or labor were provided by the following individuals and organizations:

1st Constitution Bank, Ace Topsoil & Mulch, B&L Woodworking, Belle Mead CO-OP, CAMMPS Hardware,  Cornerstone Homes & Additions (Jim Clos), EP Henry (Drew Turner), Friendly Rental, LaRue Sunoco (John LaRue), Lawrence Ecological Facility, Luckey Climbers (Tom & Spencer Luckey), Maloney Family, Mapleton Nurseries, Montgomery United Methodist Church (Rev. Godlefski), North Brunswick Construction, H J Opdyke Lumber Co., Perone Landscaping Inc., Peterson’s Nursery Garden Center, Princeton Boy Scout Troop #43, Princeton
Community Housing, Princeton Dept. of Public Works, Princeton Gardeners (Bill Turner, Katy Sears), Princeton Sewer Operating Committee, Reed Family, Robert Wells Tree, Rue Insurance, Sheehan Family, Shemin Landscape Supplies, Suburban Fence, Trap Rock Industries, Woodwinds Associates.

In addition to the produce grown, the Community Garden has provided quite a harvest of interaction, education, and collaboration for many in the greater Princeton Community. For the past two years, students from the Johnson Park School have participated in an intergenerational gardening program where they plant and harvest alongside residents in shared garden plots. Additionally, the West Windsor Girl Scouts will be working in the garden this summer and teaching healthy food preparation classes while an intern from the Princeton Summer Youth Employment Program will be helping with garden maintenance and assisting residents with their garden plots.

The Community Garden grows today — literally and figuratively — in many directions. While indeed serving as a sustainable and bountiful source of local produce, the garden also serves as a verdant outdoor living room — a special place where residents can go to be among each other and with the greater community.

We are very thankful for all the contributions — and especially grateful to the greater Princeton community that has embraced this garden, engaged our residents, and in the process, enhanced the lives of so many.

Ed Truscelli

Executive Director