Page 6 - Palm City Spotlight - August '22

Page 6, Palm City Spotlight

Good Works

House Of Hope Creates Edible Carmax Foundation Provides

Landscape Sensory Kits To Helping

What better place to People Succeed
find fresh fruit, vegetables
and herbs than in your By Jackie Holfelder
own yard? House of Some unexpected love came to Helping People
Hope staffers challenged Succeed, thanks to employees of the CarMax located in
themselves to create an edible Jensen Beach.
landscape in the front of the They recently assembled 25 sensory kits for the
organization’s administrative nonprofit, something that was greatly needed, according
offices on Dixie Highway, to Glenna Parris, gift planning officer.
and their efforts are literally A sensory kit is a collection of items that may help
bearing fruit. calm overstimulating situations. They can aid in the
“We’ve helped to create development of language, cognitive growth, fine and
gardens in other parts of gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social CarMax staff members work on sensory kits.
the community and our Healthy herbs like mint, interaction.
Growing Hope Farm in rosemary, oregano and Additionally, they can aid
Palm City is producing lemongrass are available the child’s development in
increasing amounts of right outside the front door physical skills that require
fresh, nutritious produce of House of Hope. many different muscles
for our clients,” said House to work together at once,
of Hope CEO Rob Ranieri. “Becoming involved with the such as shaping, splashing,
edible landscape movement seemed a logical next step for scooping, or molding.
us at our main facility.” Since every child has
Now, instead of the typical South Florida landscape with different needs, there are
greenery that is pretty but not productive, House of Hope’s many different types of
colorful landscape is peppered with eggplant, lemongrass, sensory kits. Unique ones
mint, blackberries, Barbados cherries, rosemary, oregano, can be assembled. One
and vibrant sunflowers. The plantings will change with thing is certain though:
the seasons so there will always be appropriate fruits and The youngsters served by
vegetables in bloom and ready for harvest. Helping People Succeed
House of Hope encourages residents, businesses and are the perfect recipients of
organizations throughout Martin County to re-evaluate their sensory kits.
own landscapes and think creatively about how to establish The CarMax Foundation
an edible yard. “An edible landscape has enormous benefits,” promotes the causes their
Ranieri said. “It’s a great way to counter increasing prices associates care about to
at the grocery store, add quality nutrition to diets, be a good impact the communities Agueda Mejia, Carolyn Moses, Jessica Alkire, Stacy Cook, Reshna Lee, Mercedes Perez
steward to the environment and teach young people about where they live and work and Janet Cooper
the source of their food.” through their Volunteer
Another teaching tool is House of Hope’s Traveling Team-Builder program. When five or more associates
Nutrition Garden. The mobile garden visits schools, volunteer together with a qualifying nonprofit, the
community events, and neighborhood gatherings with hands- organization may also be eligible to receive a donation
on information about what grows in South Florida and how from The CarMax Foundation.
to make healthier choices. Groups and organizations can Helping People Succeed also received a $1,000 grant
contact House of Hope at (772) 286-4673, Ext. 1004 to from the foundation.
schedule presentations. To learn more about programs and services it offers,
Funding for the edible landscape project came from visit www.hpsfl.org.
the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Photos provided by CarMax
Counties, along with support from a fund donated in memory
of Marnie Abate, one of the original founders of House of
Hope and a longtime friend and supporter.
House of Hope also operates the Growing Hope Farm
in Palm City and several nutrition gardens that provide
sustainable sources of fresh produce for clients as well
as nutrition education and vocational opportunities to the
community. For more information, visit hohmartin.org or
call (772) 286-4673. Updates and announcements can also
be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Racer Lynch Noah Belliard

Aligned
with

Home • Auto • Boat • RV • Life
Flood • Business • Commercial
Sunflowers and blackberry bushes add color to the edible
landscape outside of House of Hope’s administrative offices.
Mary-Beth Zipsir
Agent in Charge

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