Wayne Business Owner Grows, Donates Food But Wants to Feed More

Robert Burke isn’t your typical business man. In fact, he isn’t your typical person.

He is environmentally conscious and acts on it.

Nine years ago when Burke bought the Wayne Auto Spa, he began doing little initiatives, like installing 60 solar panels to generate clean renewable energy from the sun, among other things to keep his facility green.

Since then he has devoted much of his time to help those in need. Burke even placed a garden on the side of his auto spa business in 2011 so he could donate the grown produce to food shelters.

But Burke would soon be disappointed.

“When I started growing food and raising the hens, my goal was to donate the food and the eggs to food pantries locally. [But] food pantries that I was talking to really didn’t want fresh. They didn’t really have a good way of managing fresh. They wanted boxes and cans, rather than perishables,” Burke said.

Still, he was determined.

Burke decided he would sell his produce for cash donations and donate that money to food shelters.

A couple of years have gone by since then and that “garden” has turned into a farm, equipped with chickens, fresh produce and herbs.

And that’s not the only thing that’s changed.

Burke now works with Eva’s Village, a non-profit that aims to feed the hungry among other things, to donate the food he raises. Burke’s grown produce is used to feed members of Eva’s Hope Residence in Paterson, which is a shelter for homeless mothers battling addiction and their children. Eva’s, who can take in fresh food because they have chefs, has received about 28 food-filled trucks from Burke this year alone.

But Burke wants to do more.

He wants to build a greenhouse on his business’ property that will help feed more mouths.

The 26-foot-diameter dome shaped greenhouse will not only be able to grow more produce with its 550 feet of floor space, but will also house a 1,500 gallon pool that will stabilize the greenhouse’s temperature, provide humidity inside and can be used to raise fish and aquatic plants.

But Burke needs the public’s help to do so.

Burke and Eva’s have raised $17,000 and recently started a Kickstarter campaign to finish raising the $6,000 needed for the $23,000 greenhouse.

Burke urges New Jerseyans to get involved and donate to a great cause.

“This whole initiative has really started to pull a community together and we think it’s a great opportunity for people,” Burke, a 50-year-old Morris Township resident, said.

Burke hopes the greenhouse will be open before Thanksgiving so that more mothers battling addiction will be fed.

“I want to make this a success,” Burke said.

For his efforts thus far, Burke has been awarded the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence and the Passaic County Green Buildings Award, and rightfully so.

Do donate to Burke’s campaign, The Greenhouse Project at Wayne Auto Spa, click here.