What do you do when a large truck filled with 3500 plants arrives at sunrise in your parking lot? If you’re the director of Perry Wellness Center, you quickly unload the truck’s trailer, with the assistance of staff and peers, and provide a protective environment in one of your greenhouses.

Your next question may be: “Why 3500 plants?” Stuart Perry’s answer would likely be: “Why not?” It’s all part of his plan to expand the outreach of Rudy’s Happy Patch Market. Since Perry Wellness Center serves as a recovery wellness center for individuals with long-term mental health and substance abuse problems, it may seem surprising that so much activity has a farmer’s market focus. But Happy Patch is not only a major fund-raising arm of the non-profit organization. It also is a type of community ambassador, providing outreach to those who may not otherwise be familiar with behavioral health issues and reducing the stigma for those who cope with these illnesses.

As Stuart knows, a customer may arrive at Happy Patch looking for a hanging basket and leave with not only the basket, but new acquaintances, broadened horizons, and the smile promised to all. When you look at it that way, it makes perfect sense to be up at dawn on the last day of February, unloading 3500 fresh, healthy plants into their new, temporary home.

P.S. This is only the first of three plant shipments arriving from Florida this spring!