Toronto, Ontario, Feb. 4 / -- Since its inception in 2003 the children at
the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) orphanage in the Dominican Republic have
been playing soccer on a rocky dirt field. Nutri-Lawn, a Canadian-based lawn
care company, teamed up with Friends of the Orphans (FOTO) and sent eleven volunteers
to the town of San Pedro
de Macoris for seven days to participate in the construction of a competition size
soccer field for the 160 children residing at the orphanage.
The trip was organized by the re:nourish
program established by Nutri-Lawn in 2008 with the objective of contributing to
projects that are environmentally sustainable and encourage community health.
“An important part of our re:nourish
program is to reach out to communities beyond where we currently operate and
live,” said Ryan Vincent, president of Nutri-Lawn. “In the orphanage team
building occurs in the classroom and also on the playing field. Seeing the
excitement and wonder in the eyes of the 160 children when they were released
from school and were able to run and play on the field for the first time, is a
moment I will not soon forget.”
As leaders in ecologically friendly lawn
care, the creation of the re:nourish program was the natural realization of the
company’s core purpose: “We nourish lawns and lives.” Nutri-Lawn believes that nurturing communities
– both near and far – is manifested though giving communities back their
greenery.
“As we were working on the field we also had a
crew working on an irrigation system for the community garden that produces all
the vegetables for the orphanage,” said Jordan Lavin, the Director of
Operations for Nutri-Lawn. “There is an onsite preexisting well that was used
to fill buckets by hand, and then the water was poured onto the plants. With
the new fully automated system that draws its water from the local well, we are
saving a huge expense of energy that can now be refocused.”
The process of rebuilding the soil
structure of the playing surface was the most intensive aspect of the field’s
construction. Construction equipment was borrowed from a local golf course to
remove rocks from the open field. An
irrigation system was installed and instruction provided to the onsite staff for
the maintenance of the field for years to come. The children of the orphanage also received donated soccer jerseys, cleats and shin pads, as well as goal
posts for the field. “The kids should now have everything they need to go out
and have a good time,” Vincent said. “At Nutri-Lawn we are committed to
creating healthy lawns that are also ecologically friendly, so we felt that the
children at NPH deserve to play on a great field.”
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (which means for
"Our Little Brothers and Sisters," in Spanish) started with seven
children in January of 2003 and has been growing ever since. What began as one
house has grown into a much larger residence where 159 children live in 15
homes and attend school in nearby classrooms. The organization hopes to house
500 children in the next five years.
For more information on Nutri-Lawn’s commitment
to community partnerships please visits http://re-nourish.blogspot.com.
About Philanthropy at Nutri-Lawn.
Nutri-Lawn is proud to support the
charitable causes that are important to customers and their associates in the
global community. Through its philanthropic programs and partnerships, Nutri-Lawn
supports environmental responsibility and community involvement. For twenty
years Nutri-Lawn has been the leader of ecologically responsible lawn care, and
their core purpose is to nourish lawns and lives. They are committed to
community health through the re:nourish program. To learn more, visit www.nutrilawn.com.
Jordan Lavin
jlavin@nutrilawn.com
416 620 7100