In honor of the Professional Landcare Network’s (PLANET’s) Day of Service, which is celebrated every Earth Day, yours truly and two of my Landscape Management cohorts joined up with the pros from Schill Grounds Management and other volunteers at McGregor, a nonprofit assisted living and retirement facility located on a 32-acre historic estate on Cleveland’s east side.
Nationwide, volunteers from PLANET member companies participated in approximately 90 projects for Day of Service, a five-year-old initiative that encourages landscape professionals to plan, organize and do volunteer projects that benefit their own communities.
Jerry Schill, president and CEO of Schill Grounds Management, said he supports community-service programs like PLANET’s Day of Service and JP Horizons’ Come Alive Outside initiative to generate awareness about the value of bringing people together to work, play and enjoy the health benefits of an outdoor environment.
“We are all charged with the responsibility to complete the cycle–to create awareness about the value of spending more time outside, about coming together as a community to provide green spaces for people, especially children, to enjoy and be active,” he said.
Despite less-than-sunny conditions, we got dirty in McGregor’s courtyard, weeding beds and planting about a hundred daylilies and rhubarb plants.
The courtyard is a gathering place for McGregor’s approximately 300 residents, said Director of Sustainable Values Mary Beth Cappell-Bovee. In the summer, it’s where residents dine and listen to live music under the lights. It also houses a “salad bowl” area where residents can pick their own salad greens. Horticulture is a major focus at McGregor, which boasts resident gardens and a community garden, including a bee hive and a fruit orchard.
Cappell-Bovee, who has a landscape design background, directed the volunteers, including:
• Roberta Hudy, Keith Clapper and Brett Doutt from Schill Grounds Management, North Ridgeville, Ohio;
• Craig MacGregor, Chris Lavelle and me from Cleveland-based Landscape Management;
• Dan Jacobs from Project EverGreen, Mentor, Ohio; and
• Science teacher Peter Adorjan and three students from the environmental club at Roxboro Middle School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
“Our residents are very lucky to have volunteers from Schill Grounds Management and Roxboro Middle School take part in the Earth Day celebration, and even though it was too cold for them to be outside, our seniors will be able to benefit from the efforts today when the weather improves,” Cappell-Bovee said.
The McGregor planting was one of two Day of Service projects for Schill Grounds Management. The company also completed a spring clean-up at Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio in Lorain, Ohio.
