HAI Group Employees Harvest 290 Pounds of Produce for Local Food Pantry

HAI Group’s Seeds of Kindness community garden is back and better than ever.

The community garden—situated on a piece of open space behind HAI Group's Cheshire, Connecticut headquarters—was an annual tradition before the pandemic but had to be put on hold due to safety precautions. The 2022 growing season was the first for the HAI Group employee-led volunteer gardening effort since 2019, and it was quite a success.

“We were able to come together and grow 290 pounds of produce in our Seeds of Kindness garden,” said HAI Group employee Christian Washington (pictured below in the garden), who took over as the garden lead this year. “What an accomplishment for our first time back in the garden since the COVID-19 office closure. It was truly a team effort and it showed in our bountiful harvest.”

The entire harvest was donated to Cheshire Community Food Pantry in Cheshire, Connecticut, the town HAI Group calls home. What does HAI Group’s harvest translate to, in terms of assisting local families?

“We were able to supply the Cheshire Community Food Pantry with enough vegetables to satisfy the daily serving needs of an individual for 290 days, or a family of four for two and a half months,” Washington said.

Ed Malaspina, president and CEO of HAI Group, said he was immensely proud of the employees involved in the Seeds of Kindness garden effort. He had a placard made that recognizes each and every volunteer. It hangs at the entrance of the garden. 

"We always talk about our culture of giving back here at HAI Group, and this is a perfect example of that culture in action," Malaspina said of the community garden. "I'm proud of the volunteers for going above and beyond in identifying a need in our community and working together to help address that need in a meaningful way." 

Washington was involved in the garden in 2019, but this year, he was excited about the opportunity to take the lead. Washington said he learned to love giving back to the community during his time at the University of Hartford.

“We have the same type of commitment to the community here at HAI Group,” he said. “I like to give back and there seems like a real need out there for good produce. I live in Hartford, where there’s a food desert, so it resonates with me.”

Washington said there are many people he knows who are working one or more jobs, but it’s just not enough, and they need to rely on food pantries for assistance.

“These programs help individuals that are working their hardest to be upstanding and productive in the community, but are having a hard time,” he said. “It helps take the weight off their backs.”

This year’s garden was somewhat last minute due to unknowns with COVID-19, but once it was green-lit, there was plenty of support.

“It resonates with people,” Washington said of the community garden. “Even some of our new employees, they just came in the door and wanted to get involved. Supporting the community is in our DNA at HAI Group, and it means so much to give back in any capacity. I’m just proud and happy to lead another successful program on behalf of the company.”

The Seeds of Kindness team worked together to prepare, plant, maintain, and harvest the garden. Washington said the team was able to double its harvest weight this year thanks to lessons learned from previous seasons.

“In previous years, we had watering system issues so we had that nailed down this year,” he said. “We also picked produce with the most value. In the past, we included herbs and hot peppers, which are nice to have but don’t provide as much. This year, we just stuck with hearty vegetables and we got the most out of it.”

Washington said the team was successful in growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini (the size of baseball bats). He credited Dietrich Gardens in Cheshire for providing starter plants to the garden team at no cost.

“It was a local effort from start to finish,” he said. “We had such a great experience with Dietrich Gardens and we're so thankful for their support. It really speaks to what we set out to accomplish and our end goal of providing quality produce to the food pantry."

Washington noted that pantry staff was "truly appreciative of everything we offered them and were always happy to see us when we dropped off produce.”

The Seeds of Kindness garden will be back again in 2023, Washington added.

“We’re going to hit the ground running next year,” he said. “It’s going to be a full-fledged program. We’re going to take our learnings from this year and improve. For example, we grew leafy greens like Kale this year, but they didn’t produce as much as we wanted. So we’ll look at other plants with more sustenance, such as squash.”