Mizzen Way Group Home Receives Opportunity to Garden and Connect with the Community

Individuals at Allies’ Mizzen Way Group Home had the opportunity to experience the joys and health benefits of gardening while connecting with the community thanks to the Ocean County Health Department’s (OCHD) “Inclusive Gardening: Cultivating Health for All” project. The project aims to improve health, decrease disparities and improve accessibility to break down barriers between the community and individuals with disabilities. One way their project is achieving this is through the construction of inclusive community gardens at the Toms River Field of Dreams and several local group homes.

Allies was delighted to have its Mizzen Way Group Home selected for the garden initiative and enjoyed collaborating with the OCHD to build vegetable gardens in home’s backyard. Nicole Grant, Executive Director of Southern Ocean and Camden Counties at Allies, remarked, “Allies would like to thank the Ocean County Health Department for selecting our Mizzen Way Group Home to participate in this wonderful project. Everyone that came to work on the gardens was outstanding and our residents at Mizzen Way absolutely loved working together with them. It really brought sunshine to our corner of Ocean County.”

Allies would also like to thank The New Jersey Department of Human Services and their “Inclusive Healthy Communities Grant Program” for sponsoring the OCHD’s project. To learn more, visit: https://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dds/services/ihc/.

For more information about the OCHDs “Inclusive Gardening: Cultivating Health for All” project, please email Patricia High, Assistant Public Health Coordinator, at phigh@ochd.org.

Allies, Inc. is a nonprofit agency dedicated to providing housing, healthcare, meaningful employment and recreational activities to people with special needs in the communities of their choice. To learn more, visit www.alliesnj.org.