New Life Manor Celebrates with Harvest

NEWBURGH – The garden at New Life Manor halfway house in Newburgh is overflowing with fruits and vegetables. Maintenance Worker Felix Colon, 79, works with the facility’s residents to maintain the garden including planting, watering, harvesting, and planning for next year. A program of Regional Economic Community Action Program (RECAP), New Life Manor is a treatment facility specializing in chemical dependency treatment.

The garden yields enough produce for over 20 residents and Colon brings surplus to other RECAP sites including the advocacy office on Broadway in Newburgh. Colon will make stuffed peppers and slice tomatoes to make sandwiches. Sunflowers line the front of the residence from which Colon harvests seeds that are tossed with salt and baked for a late summer snack.

“We have who we call Felix’s helpers. The residents help him weed and mow,” said Debra Greene, Director of New Life Manor. “They use the peppers to make cheesesteak sandwiches and when we have enough vegetables they do tomato/cucumber salad. Felix grew up on a farm in Puerto Rico and for years worked in the onion fields in Pine Island. He has a wealth of information for the residents. They get a lot out of working with him.”