Volunteers the Catalyst Behind Wellpoint Care Network’s Mobile Garden Beds

It took some thought and dedication to make sure a yearly staple at Wellpoint Care Network continued despite some major hurdles.

For the last couple of years, a community garden has been available on the land behind Wellpoint Care’s campus. But with construction underway on a Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) project, plans for 2024 came to a halt.

“The community garden, we feel, is going to be a staple at Wellpoint Care for a very long time,” said Alex Williams, Director of Community Engagement at Wellpoint Care Network. “Because of the GSI project, plans were changed for this year, but we still understood the importance of the garden. We understood what it means to community members who have been calling asking for plots or places to volunteer. We understand that as a community, people are asking for those safe spaces, asking for those green spaces.”

With the help of some dedicated volunteers, Wellpoint Care Network staff began to think about solutions so that some form of the garden could continue despite the construction.

“Jack Nelson and Bill Selzer are dedicated members of the Elmbrook Rotary Club and really dedicated to the community garden,” added Williams. “They wanted to make sure that however it had to come to fruition, that it would. That’s when the suggestion of mobile garden beds came about. Bill came up with a plan for different sizes of the beds and how they could be used. And Jack was supportive of creating the beds and making sure that the garden was accessible for all people.”

If it weren’t for their creative thinking and hard work, the condensed 2024 version of the community garden likely would not have happened.

“Without Jack and Bill, we just flat out wouldn’t have a garden this year,” said Williams. “They really put together the plan, the push, they got the right people involved, they reached out to their connections. I think that’s the strength and power of volunteers, they’re able to go into new spaces and create connections and talk to people that maybe we aren’t familiar with. This is so vital to help us expand our continuum of care so that we can better serve our community.”

In fact, the Elmbrook Rotary Club is one of the reasons Wellpoint Care Network’s community garden was originally created. It started with a push from Rotary International to encourage groups to work in nature more and more specifically, to build peace gardens. Members of the Elmbrook Rotary Club thought Wellpoint Care’s campus was the perfect location.

“We quickly started to realize we needed several different types of beds,” said Jack Nelson, Elmbrook Rotary Club member and Wellpoint Care Network Board member. “We wanted to have a garden that was accessible to kids. We also needed to have a garden that was accessible to people that had accessibility issues. So that’s where these mobile beds really started to come into play, because we want to make sure that anybody in the community that wants to plant, regardless of their situation, can plant.”

Though the mobile beds were originally meant to be an addition to the in-ground plots, they’re now serving as the temporary primary garden beds until construction can be completed.

“Bill Selzer took it upon himself to design the beds, making sure that they’re structured well so they can sustain the conditions, being outside all the time,” added Nelson. “He put together a team of about six Rotarians that could help build these things and put them together, manufacture them, get soil here and get everything done. The prototype was done in March and then we put them together in May.”

The beds are located in the front of Wellpoint Care’s campus, just outside the windows of our Mental Health Clinic.

“It was important to still provide a space where people can see things growing,” said Williams. “I think that especially in the Clinic space, it’s extremely important that young people are able to see things growing, to see greenery, to see things being planted, to see changes. Just like plants, our patients need nourishment, they need water, they need somebody to help them grow. So, the garden is really a microcosm for the services we provide here at Wellpoint Care Network.”

There are approximately 10 mobile garden beds built and ready for the 2024 season. Unfortunately, plots will not be available to the community. Instead, Wellpoint Care Network staff and Clinic programs will maintain the upkeep and care.

“This year, we’re not able to offer community member plots, but that is the vision for the future,” said Williams. “The goal is to have a garden that’s accessible to the community where people feel like it’s their own, where they can have their own plots, where they have a community grow space where people can come and plant or take as they need or as they feel. And all of that will return in 2025.”

For more on the benefits of a community garden, click here.

If you’d like to become a volunteer and help advance our mission of helping children and families thrive, click here.