WAUKESHA — The legacy of a longtime Adaptive Community Approach Program volunteer is continuing to grow, thanks to a donation from his family.
ACAP, a nonprofit serving adults with disabilities in Waukesha, recently lost its longtime gardening site at the Waukesha County Rental Gardens, 1400 Northview Road. The gardens, managed by UW-Extension for more than 30 years, included more than 100 plots across 2 acres and provided affordable space for nonprofits and residents.
The site closed last fall as the county prepared to sell the land, leaving people and organizations like ACAP searching for a new home.
On Tuesday, ACAP announced it has secured a new garden space through the family of Kerry “Buzz” Elwood, a longtime volunteer who died May 31, 2023.
The family owns about 30 acres in the Town of Genesee and decided to dedicate space for the garden.
Losing the county garden site was a significant setback for ACAP, especially given how central gardening is to its programming, said Executive Director Sandra Gines.
“It was a significant loss because our gardening program is one of our most popular activities that we offer,” she said.
Many participants lack regular access to outdoor spaces, making the program especially valuable.
“It’s hard for a lot of our members to have things, the experiences that we take for granted, like going outside and digging in the dirt and planting something,” Gines said.
The program also connects to other services, including cooking and volunteer work.
“The cooking that we do and the gardening that we do also is used in our volunteering, where we create, we make meals and serve people who are hungry,” she said.
After the garden closure was announced, ACAP began searching for a new site but struggled to find one that met accessibility needs.
“And while there are other community gardens, we weren’t finding something that really worked perfectly for us,” Gines said.
The organization eventually reached out to the Elwood family, who had remained in close contact after Buzz Elwood’s death.
“We were delighted when Will Elwood (Buzz’s son) and Donna Kuhtz (Buzz’s wife) expressed interest in partnering with us. The proposed garden space is perfect for our needs! In addition, the Buzz Elwood Memorial Garden Fund, organized by Kari & Jarrod Schmidt (Buzz’s niece & her husband), will be used to support this new partnership. Here’s to all the wonderful things gardens can bring,” ACAP said in a social media post.
A lasting impact
Elwood’s connection with the organization spanned many years.
“He was a well-rounded Renaissance guy who knew a lot about a lot of things. And I know he came in multiple times and helped us with our gardening program, with planting seedlings, and talking to our members about what it meant to grow things and how to grow things, and the pleasures of growing things,” Gines said.
Gines said Elwood had a presence people responded to.
“When he died a couple years ago, it was a loss to so many communities, not just ACAP. He had impacted so many people’s lives,” she said.
SPECIAL: $6 FOR 6 MONTHS
Start a new FREEMAN digital subscription for only $6 for the first 6 months.
SUBSCRIBE
Buzz was very active in the Waukesha County Alcoholics Anonymous community, volunteering to lead meetings for inmates at the County Jail and mentoring and sponsoring people in their journey to sobriety.
Gines described Elwood as a quiet but impactful presence in the community.
“This was somebody who, in his own unassuming, quiet way, just went about making the world a better place by helping human beings that came into his communities,” she said. “And he was a lovely human being. I feel really fortunate that I had the chance to get to know him before he passed.”
Elwood’s son, Will, said the decision to offer land for the garden was rooted in his father’s long involvement with ACAP and love of nature. His father had been involved with the organization for more than a decade and regularly volunteered, leading workshops and gardening sessions.
Buzz’s belief was “All have inherent dignity and are deserving of being productive in whatever way they can in society and in the world, and that everyone has a unique gift to share. That was what drove him for working with the intellectually and developmentally disabled community through ACAP,” Elwood said.
Buzz was inspired by ACAP members who had experienced many difficulties and challenges and had much to offer the world.
ACAP previously dedicated garden space in his memory.
Buzz was married to Donna Kuhtz and had two children, Catherine and Will. Buzz and Donna purchased 30 acres of land in the Town of Genesee in 1988, where they built their home.
Elwood said his father started his landscaping business and began planting trees, eventually building a nursery business. Buzz’s background was in horticulture, and he held a degree in the field.
“He always had a love for growing things for nature and sustainability and the planet. Those were his core passions. He was a remarkable guy loved by everybody,” Elwood said.
After his father’s death, the family wanted to continue supporting an organization that meant so much to him.
“We knew that ACAP was something that he would really want us to continue our family’s involvement with in,” he said.
“We decided my dad would be so happy to have the ACAP garden program continuing on on our land,” Elwood said.
Elwood said his father’s passion for helping others guided the decision.
“I think he’s just always had that core, inherent strong moral and ethical foundation that, he’s just always felt like he should be of service to people,” he said.
He hopes the project encourages others to support community-based efforts.
“I definitely hope that this inspires people to contribute in some way,” Elwood said.
For the Elwood family, the garden is a fitting way to carry forward Buzz Elwood’s values.
Elwood said he hopes people will continue to live by his father’s principles.
“Just extending kindness and compassion and dignity to everyone that we meet and that, I think that’s where his legacy will live on is if we can just all live a little more closely to that philosophy,” he said.
Comments are closed.