Learn About One of Our Exceptional Volunteers – Janice Lasker

By Summer Meares

When Janice Lasker moved to Greenville from Virginia, she was looking for volunteer opportunities in the community, and she missed having a garden. She found Sustaining Way through an online search, and immediately knew she wanted to get involved. Janice quickly became a regular at Annie’s House, volunteering nearly every Friday for two years. During that time, she helped with many projects, including weeding, planting seeds, harvesting fruits and vegetables, inoculating mushroom logs, building a shed, laying bricks for our recognition path, helping build our new compost system, and helping to establish the pollinator garden. 

Some of her favorite memories of being involved with Sustaining Way include attending a canning workshop and helping to install a backyard garden for a Nicholtown resident (and seeing how excited the resident was to garden). She also tried fresh figs, persimmons, and muscadines for the first time at Annie’s House. 

Janice has enjoyed giving back to the community, meeting new people, and learning from the many staff members she has worked with at Sustaining Way. Not only did she gain knowledge but also a community of friends.

Janice recently moved back to Virginia to be closer to family, and all miss her at Sustaining Way. “Thank you to everyone for being so welcoming and positive. This is probably what I’ll miss more than anything,” said Janice, referring to her time volunteering with Sustaining Way. 

“She is a great garden friend,” said Food Security & Agriculture VISTA Chazmier Tyler, who often worked alongside Janice. “She worked hard and brought all her energy into the garden. She is a beautiful soul, and I’m going to miss her.” 

Though sad to leave Annie’s House, Janice looks forward to using her expanded gardening knowledge to grow more vegetables at her new home. Her advice to new volunteers is to try it and keep returning because the work is different daily.

Thank you, Janice, for all your hard work and dedication over the last two years!