Charlotte Schulenburg hands me a cucumber right off the vine. “Here, John, this is for you,” she says proudly.
I tell her thanks, and I slice it up later and throw it into a salad. It’s crunchy and tastes like how a fresh summer cuke should, but it tastes even better knowing it was grown with great care by Charlotte and her fellow coworkers at the greenhouse at Riverside Industries in Easthampton.
Charlotte is one of three full-time employees and four part-time employees who are part of a workforce development program at Riverside, or RSI, as it’s known in the Valley.
Now in her seventh year with the program, Charlotte speaks with great confidence. She is a matter-of-fact person who has had several jobs in her adult life, and she’ll tell you if she likes something … and certainly if she doesn’t.
And what Charlotte definitely likes is Riverside and working with the “greenhouse crew,” as they call it, at the grounds behind the massive One Cottage Street complex across from Nashawannuck Pond.
On a hot summer day while on her break at a picnic table in the shade, I ask her what she likes best about the program.
Her guard immediately comes down. She smiles.
“Robin,” she says softly. “I enjoy being with Robin.”
Robin Howson is a job coach with six years of experience working with people with disabilities. She oversees the garden program, which supplies a ton of veggies and herb starts and house plants for the Easthampton Farmers’ Market.
When Robin took the position a couple of years ago, she needed to convince some very important people of her abilities and most, importantly, her compassion for others and her commitment to the Riverside mission.
That’s right; she was interviewed by Charlotte and her co-workers.
“We do include our clients in the interview process when we interview individuals,” says Sarah Chaplin, employment supervisor at Riverside’s greenhouse. “We want their feedback … it’s important to our mission, which is all about empowering people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live rich and full lives.”
At Riverside, it’s about people learning skills and gaining independence. It’s about giving them self-determination. I would also say there is something else pretty powerful taking place that doesn’t have textbook descriptions or a sharp mission statement — something intangible that involves mutual respect and love.
Over the years, I would drive past the red brick repurposed mill wondering how so many people are cared for inside such an old building that used to make elastic and rubber threads.
But my curiosity was further piqued at a veterans’ job and resource fair in Holyoke sponsored by the Human Service Forum in June, when Riverside staff, looking to hire veterans, told me about their greenhouse after I asked them about some of the special things they do.
Hearing the word “green,” I was hooked. Already knowing the power of horticulture therapy among veterans, I knew I had to see how Riverside was using gardening in their program.
I set up a visit with Susan Lapointe, their wonderful development and communications person, and a longtime Riverside board member and volunteer, and Chaplin.
They took me around the entire physical plant of this 1859 building and while I thought I’d be learning exclusively about their farm and greenhouse program, I ended up learning much more about this hidden gem right in our midst.
Did you know that Riverside clients package and ship jewelry for local companies like Holyoke’s popular Scout line of “curated wears” or Northampton’s Juneberry Bags — “the most versatile purse you’ll ever own?” Or that they send out meditation guru Deepak Chopra’s “Dream Weaver” multicolor LED meditation glasses?
Over the years, Riverside clients have shipped such products and many more across the country and to more than 60 countries all across the globe.
There’s even a cafe open to the public on weekdays that feature farm-to-table ingredients grown and harvested by their workforce.
I learn a lot more, too, about human potential and their hopes for the future.
I find out they do an auction in April and with more funds and community support they could hire even more people like Robin and expand operations.
Earlier that morning, on the short drive over to Riverside, I listen on National Public Radio as they describe President Trump’s latest racist tweets and news about Jeffrey Epstein.
Then there’s the other news of the day: New restrictive rules will bar Central American migrants from requesting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border; the hottest temperatures in Europe’s history are being recorded. I could go on. I’m in a funk, which is common with me these days, and I know I’m not alone.
With the state of our nation and planet, it may seem like we’re all like Sisyphus repeatedly rolling a huge stone up a hill, only to have it roll down again.
But then, I spend a half day at Riverside and I come away refreshed with a renewed faith in humanity. And I know there are good people here at home doing good things, and that we Homo sapiens may be alright after all. To our neighbors at Riverside, I am grateful.
John Paradis, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, lives in Florence and writes a column published the second Friday of the month. He can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.