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Social Services Director Helen B. Wilkins (left) accepts bags of vegetables donated by produce farmers Dana and Bernard Boyle. |
BY FRANK DELANO
Last Sunday afternoon, Dana and Bernard Boyle were working in their vegetable fields in the Northern Neck. The Boyles were not alone.
About 20 other people, including friends and relatives of the Boyles and 15 youngsters from Melrose United Methodist Church in Northumberland County, were also bending over to pick hundreds of pounds of fresh vegetables for needy folks in Westmoreland County.
Everybody "helped us to help others," said Dana Boyle, 32.
On Monday, the Boyles delivered 50 bags of greens, bell peppers, turnips, green beans, sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, cabbage, apples and onions to the Westmoreland Department of Social Services.
The department delivered the bags to clients from Colonial Beach to Kinsale, said Joe Howell, who manages the department's holiday programs. Some of the disadvantaged also received Thanksgiving dinners "complete with a turkey breast and all the trimmings" donated by Grace United Methodist Church in Colonial Beach, Howell said.
The Boyles' donation of fresh vegetables was a first for the department, Howell said. But it won't be the last.
"It's fun. It makes you feel good. We'll do it again next year, that's for sure," Dana said.
The vegetables were worth $1,000, she said. Half of the cost was donated by her customers at Garner Produce on State Route 3, seven miles east of Montross. The family business contributed the rest.
The family grows "every vegetable known to man" on 110 acres, said Bernard Boyle, 36. In addition to their stand in Westmoreland, they sell fresh vegetables during the growing season at nine farmers markets from Charlottesville to Irvington to Washington, D.C. The season lasts from strawberries in the spring until pumpkins in the fall.
Four seasonal workers from a family in Mexico help them with the work. "We depend on them as much as they depend on us," Dana said.
Over the years, the Boyles have made three off-season visits to Mexico to see their Mexican workers and attend weddings and christenings in their family. Dana said her Spanish is "pretty good." Bernard said his is "fair."
"We're going to Mexico this year, too. It's a lot of fun," said Dana.
The Boyles' vegetable donation this year was caused by dry weather this fall that delayed the growth and harvest of late-season crops. When the rains finally came, Dana said she began to wonder, "What are we going to do with it?"
A call to social services solved that problem.
Howell said the eyes of one elderly recipient lit up when she saw the greens in the bag he delivered to her door last week.
"Greens!" the woman told him. "I've been thinking about greens all week. You just made by day!"
Frank Delano: 804/761-4300
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com
