The knowledge that older adults are an underserved population coupled with an interest in science and, specifically, hydroponic farming, attracted two team members from F&G, a leading provider of insurance solutions serving retail annuity and life customers and institutional clients headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, to serve WesleyLife though volunteerism.
Their time with WesleyLife resulted in an unexpected and generous sponsorship of the Prairie Meadows Hydroponic Farm on the WesleyLife Meals on Wheels campus as well as plans to present volunteering with WesleyLife as an opportunity for their organization as a whole.
"Our company values our volunteering in ways that are meaningful to us personally and to the greater community, and WesleyLife checked both those boxes for us," Tracy Smith (second from right in photo with other F&G team members), director of project management and program delivery for F&G, said.
"Some non-profits get a lot of attention; everyone knows them, and they do great work. We were looking for an organization that perhaps wasn't known nationally, but was making a big difference."
Tracy's co-volunteer, Panom Foell (at far right in the photo), information technology learning and development manager with F&G, said she and Tracy were looking for an outside-the-box volunteer opportunity when they were scanning the United Way of Central Iowa website and saw the hydroponic farm was looking for assistance.
"The site laid out the volunteer opportunities nicely, and the farm piqued our interest right away," Panom said. "Hydroponics is a popular thing right now, and we were interested in how it worked. So volunteering was a way to do something meaningful and to learn something at the same time."
Tracy and Panom signed up for a volunteer session inside the farm and worked with the hydroponics team to harvest and package lettuce cultivated for use in the meals created and delivered to thousands of WesleyLife Meals on Wheels clients daily. Meals on Wheels serves older adults and military veterans in Polk and Dallas counties with nutritious meals and also provides needed well-being checks to clients, who are often homebound and isolated.
The farm's greens also are used by Hugo's Wood-Fired Kitchen on the Meals on Wheels campus and are offered for sale to the general public.
A personal connection
The F&G team members said they enjoyed every aspect of the experience, from learning about proper hygiene and sterilization methods for the crops as well as how to package them to ensure longevity. But Panom was surprised to find the experience meant something to her personally as well.
"Working inside the farm made me think a lot about my dad, who lived in rural Iowa and was homebound," she says. "He had dementia and received Meals on Wheels.”
"While we appreciated the meals, my dad had a hard time eating them because at the time, they didn't include fresh fruits and vegetables. He missed them and would ask for them. Growing their own vegetables to add to the meals is such an important thing for WesleyLife to do."
Panom said she also enjoyed talking with WesleyLife's hydroponic farmer about the possibility of growing fruits and vegetables that are more ethnic in nature, such as moringa, a high-protein superfood grown in subtropical and tropical climates.
"When you're confined to your home like my dad was, you can't just run out to the Asian market and get the foods you're craving," Panom says. "It's amazing to think of what could be done in the future in the hydroponic space."
A welcome sponsorship
Panom and Tracy's volunteer visit didn't just result in heightened interest; it ended up resulting in a sponsorship of tremendous value to the farm. That part of the experience unfolded organically, they said.
"After we volunteered, we wondered how we could contribute further," Tracy says. "We felt the pain of trying to dry the lettuce we harvested in a small lettuce spinner. We learned how much of a difference it would make to have a commercial spinner, so we talked to our leadership team and suggested we provide some dollars for this."
As a result, F&G provided WesleyLife Meals on Wheels with support to fund operational needs tied to the innovative success of the Prairie Meadows Hydroponic Farm.
“We're grateful for WesleyLife and for the opportunity to be a part of something so impactful right here in our community. We will be back and will bring others with us, and we also hope others see this and realize how easy it is to make a difference locally,” Panom said.
Shannon Draayer, executive director of community nutrition for WesleyLife, says the value of F&G's contribution cannot be overstated.
"First, to have them volunteer was wonderful, but then to have this generous sponsorship made such an impact on the farm," Shannon said.
"As we deal in tremendous volume, enhancing efficiencies is such a critical thing for us. For them to have realized and understood this and then made it happen was so meaningful, and we are grateful."
