Jim Call

Jim Call has been the Volunteer Garden Director for the CASA Community Garden located in Huntsville, AL since 1995. Through his leadership, a large garden is planted, maintained and harvested by volunteers of all ages. The harvested produce is then delivered free of charge to the homebound elderly in Madison County. Because of Jim's efforts, more than 2,500 elderly received fresh vegetables in 1998.

Due to the rising elderly population, CASA saw the need to focus on enabling the elderly to live independent and healthy lives. Jim has been on the CASA board for many years and in 1998 initiated a new program called the GardenAngel Program. He succeeded in providing 20 homebound elderly with their own gardens along with a volunteer GardenAngel to visit weekly and assist in maintaining the garden. Jim solicited donations to fund this project, which gives the client fresh vegetables, a fulfilling daily activity and companionship with the volunteers. Jim is currently working to establish an additional 20 gardens.

Jim managed to mobilize more than 250 volunteers during the summer of 1998 and has enlisted the assistance of kindergarten students to decorate the paper bags used to carry the groceries to the seniors' apartments. Each year the art class at Liberty Middle School constructs ten life-size scarecrows to be used in the gardens. Local high school students work yearly on painting a mural to be used as a volunteer signature board. In the last four years, Jim has impacted the community and has given hundreds of isolated elderly people a better quality of life.