Reaping More Than They Sow

As Cathy Zamparo gingerly moves tomato seedlings from one basket to the next, replanting them in a fertilizer mix, she's unfazed by a gust of warm morning wind that blows through the hydroponic garden off Congress Street.

“If there’s too many in there, they can’t grow together, I guess,” the 44-year-old woman says, shrugging while holding a tiny plant between her index finger and thumb.

Nearby, her twin brothers, James and Clifford Balletta, 28, work in the garden.

“It’s fun,” says James Balletta, nodding.

He likes to get his hands dirty, he adds.

As a teen, Zamparo was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. While she is able to live alone in an apartment,  it’s difficult for her to hold a regular job or easily blend into society. Her brothers have Fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition and the most common form of inherited intellectual disability.

“I love them to death,” Zamparo says, pointing out she doesn't care that they have a disability.

Zamparo and her brothers work at ’s hydroponics farm, located on about 1.5 acres of a nearly seven-acre tract of land. The siblings are part of a sheltered workshop program approved by the U.S. Department of Labor. The program allows employment of people like Zamparo and the twins. But it’s at a pay rate below minimum wage.

Participants are paid roughly $1.50 an hour, says Lester Cypher, the volunteer CEO of the nonprofit food bank.

“We have to keep their pay under $600 a year because otherwise it messes up their Social Security, Medicaid etc,” Cypher said. “We don’t want to create a program that gives them problems.”

In addition to the siblings, there are currently eight other employees with physical or mental challenges, says Jane Doe, the volunteer workshop manager.

Two or three days a week, they tend to the garden; weeding, planting, mixing ground-up coconut into the fertilizer and, when the time comes, harvesting the products of their hard work.

“It has opened up a whole new world to them. They feel wanted, like that they’re contributing, and they get a paycheck,” says Doe, whose paid job for a different agency is being a buddy to folks like the Ballettas. “It gives them a goal. They have their own money now so they can go buy something, and they’re getting vitamin D for free.”

As part of the federal workshop, Cypher says, The Volunteer Way had to use a formula to calculate how much to pay the farm workers. It had to take a sampling from three other farms or gardens and determine an average rate employees earn. Then it determined how long it would take the workers with disabilities to complete a job that workers without disabilities would complete in an hour, and calculate that. The Volunteer Way arrived at the hourly rate and was a pproved to go through with the program with a certicicate from the Department of Labor.

“It’s according to their ability,” Cypher says.

Zamparo enjoys working with plants and the people at the garden so much, she doesn’t mind the low wage.

“It doesn’t bother me whatsoever,” she says, busily moving from plant to plant. “The economy is so bad. Every little bit helps.”

The garden workshop program started last summer. By that time, the hydroponics garden had been growing for about a year on land donated to the food bank in 2008, on which The Volunteer Way’s new two-story facility is currently under construction. Cypher, a former counselor to people with physical and mental challenges, thought the project would mutually benefit the food bank and the disabled workers.

At the farm, The Volunteer Way finds jobs for all of its staff members no matter how severe their disabilities.

“We’ll fit them in any place we can,” says Cypher. “If we have to, we’ll manufacture a job for them.

Not only is it giving people with disabilities something productive to do, it teaches them, Doe says.

“They’re learning to tell the plants that come up from the weeds,” she says. “They’re learning that vegetables don’t come from Publix.”

The thousands of plants being grown and about to be planted in addition to the tomatoes include peppers, romaine lettuce, brussel sprouts, watermelon, cantaloupe, peas, eggplants and more. Once harvested, the produce will be bagged and go directly to The Volunteer Way offices and distribution center at 7820 Congress Street. It allows them to provide those in need with much healthier food options than what comes in a can or a box, Cypher says.

“This greenery here’s got a lot of nutrients,” Cypher says proudly looking over the rows and rows of plants.

By mid-morning one recent day, the workers - all smiles - take a break to get a drink of water and nibble on bagels. Zamparo walks over and wraps her arms around her brother, James.

“They just love to help people, and here they are growing food for hungry people,” says Cypher of the garden workers. “What better fit than that?”

To find out more about employment in this program and how to apply and undergo an assessment to see if you might be a good fit, contact The Volunteer Way at (727) 815-0433.