BANGOR, Maine — As local seniors mourn the impending closure of the Hammond Street Senior Center, a group of volunteers spent Monday rescuing the members’ rooftop gardens.
Officials with the senior center announced this month they will close the historic structure in a bid to cut costs as they attempt to sell the building and relocate to a lower-cost facility that will enable them to dedicate more money to programming.
With the center set to close at month’s end, 36 varsity and junior varsity football players from John Bapst Memorial High School volunteered their time to empty 17 raised garden beds and help lower them from the building’s roof.
The beds are being relocated to Bangor Community Garden on Essex Street.
“It helps us bond more as a family and as a team,” said 17-year-old varsity football player Anthony Michaud of the volunteer work.
Other players chimed in that it just feels good to help others in need and that it provides a good workout.
Together the players lugged buckets and wheelbarrows of soil and plants from the second-story roof and assisted as a donated crane lifted the wooden beds from the roof and lowered them to a waiting truck.
Beginning at 8 a.m., they worked late into the afternoon and wore football helmets for protection during the heavy work.
“It’s very, very sad to see this place close, awfully sad, but we’re so happy to be able to move the garden. It’s the one thing we know we’re still going to have,” said senior center member Gayle Crowley, who is a master gardener.
Equipment used in the move was donated. Roof Systems of Maine volunteered a crane for the job and Lou Silver Inc. donated a truck. Senior center member Art Shaw, also a master gardener, donated his time and a flatbed trailer to assist.
“We could have done it if we had to, but it would have taken a long time,” said senior center member Al Banfield, one of the organizers of the move and a master gardener.
Banfield said he approached the high school’s key club in search of labor to help with the move, and the football players’ services were offered to help.
Most vegetables grown in the roof-top garden were already out of season, but perennials were saved and will be relocated to the garden’s new home.
Crowley said they will begin planting garlic and replanting strawberries salvaged from the rooftop at the garden’s new home later this week.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.