Volunteer helps veterans garden in renovated space
MARQUETTE — Some residents at the D.J. Jacobetti Home for Veterans are spending their time working outside thanks to the efforts of one volunteer working at the greenhouse on the property.
Steve Finley loves gardening and now he’s sharing that love with veterans at the home. New plant beds with walkways for handicap accessibility have already been installed.
The home also has plans to renovate the inside of the greenhouse. For Finley, showing the veterans how to garden comes down to one word: passion.
“I absolutely enjoy doing this kind of thing,” said Finley. “The whole idea coming into a home for veterans is that these guys have done some absolutely incredible things that you never even learn about and surprisingly enough a lot of them have gardening in their background.”
“My ultimate goal is to be able to provide the folks at this location with nutrient dense vegetables,” added Finley.
“That will be a place for our members to be able to go and pursue that interest if they’re interested in gardening and also to just be there in green space is that’s all they want to enjoy,” said Ken Arseneau, activity director.
The gardening program is about a month old and the home is in need of gardening tools for the veterans to use. You can drop off any donations for the gardening activities at their facility on Fisher St. in Marquette.