A Healthy, Happy Holiday to All

A Healthy, Happy Holiday to All 
from the Vita Health & Wellness District
and Fairgate Farm!

We invite you to read this new article on the Vita Health & Wellness District
from the latest copy of Stamford Plus Magazine; as you can see,
we have had a productive year and we’d like to thank the many individuals … 

With quarterly meetings in March, June, September and December, the West Side NRZ focused on neighborhood improvements and the introduction of our new Stillwater Merchant’s Association.


 

May brought the grand opening of Greenfield, Charter Oak Communities’ fifth mixed-income neighborhood built with high-quality, energy-efficient and health-promoting materials.



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Fairgate Farm’s season kicked off with our Farm Jam Strawberry Festival. We had workshops on juicing and pickling … our popular, 6-week Farm to Table Family workshop series … the first-ever Yoga on the Farm … and our annual Harvest Festival. More than 100 volunteers, individuals and corporations, donated 11,000 hours of time (along with some welcome funds and needed materials) to help us plant, cultivate and harvest 7,500 pounds of fruit and vegetables – shared with our “Fairgate Farm” team members and community organizations. including Scofield Manor, the New Covenant House soup kitchen and the mens’ and womens’ shelters.



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We launched our new composting program, diverting more than 15,000 pounds of waste from local landfills to make rich, natural fertilizer for our Farm and neighboring community gardens.

 



New this fall is our first childhood education program, Parents as Co-Educators, in collaboration with Childcare Learning Centers, Family Centers, and Neighbors Link of Stamford. Our goal is to bring a measurable improvement in kindergarten readiness for 20 preschool children over the next three years. The program is generously funded with grants from the Singer Foundation, the Lone Pine Foundation and, just announced, the Grossman Family Foundation.

We’re excited about 2016, which brings new programming throughout our neighborhood – along with the much-anticipated opening of the new Stamford Hospital in September. All will be quiet on the Farm these next three months but we’ll be hard at work indoors making plans, raising funds and recruiting volunteers for the upcoming season.

Everyone at the Vita Health & Wellness District wishes you, your colleagues, and your families a peaceful, healthy and happy New Year!