Food Garden Unveiled At St. Catherine Of Siena Hospital In Smithtown

SMITHTOWN, NY — A cooperative food garden was installed at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown in an effort to address food insecurity on Long Island, Catholic Health and Smile Farms, Inc. announced.

The partnership, with monetary support from the Proskauer, yielded its third food garden.

Created to support mental health, the garden, which consists of seven flower beds, will be tended by youth volunteers from the Smile Farms Club at Saint Anthony’s High School in Huntington, as well as volunteers from the Smithtown Youth Bureau and Horizon’s Counseling and Education Center. One of the seven flower beds will also be tended by St. Catherine of Siena Hospital employees.

Produce from the Smile Farms garden will be donated to local parishes and shelters to align with Catholic Health’s mission to address food insecurity.

"We are extremely grateful for the meaningful partnership with Smile Farms, Proskauer and all of our community partners," St. Catherine of Siena Hospital President Christopher Nelson said in a news release. "The Smile Farms garden gives volunteers the opportunity to give back to their community, to nurture the garden to life, while also fostering teamwork. For our youth volunteers, as well as our hospital staff, it is a meaningful endeavor to know that the fresh produce that will be grown at St. Catherine’s, will be donated to local parishes in our surrounding communities."

The first Catholic Heath/Smile Farms garden opened in 2023 at Catholic Health’s Mercy Hospital Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic in Garden City, followed by a second, larger Mercy Hospital garden in 2024. The produce has been shared with food-insecure individuals at Mercy Hospital’s Family Center, an outpatient clinic for women and children.

"Our collaboration with Catholic Health is special and unique as it affords our Smile Farmers the
opportunity to give to others while concurrently giving to themselves," said Steve McDermott, managing director of Smile Farms. "The mental health benefits of gardening are well documented, including decreased anxiety, stress, and depression, and increased creativity, productivity, attention, memory, and self-esteem. We welcome and empower people with all abilities, skills, and experience for a day in the garden to engage with nature and each other. We are grateful to Catholic Health and Proskauer, for helping us serve the community while empowering people with disabilities."

Catholic Health’s multifaceted food insecurity initiative currently offers emergency food "to-go" bags
distributed in Catholic Health’s six emergency departments and throughout. Individuals who receive the bags are also provided with direct referrals to community-based organizations to identify resources, such as the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (SNAP) for regular access to healthy foods.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness in our local communities of hunger, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks and 60,000 local meals programs across the country, estimates that nearly 34 million people, including 9 million children — about 1 in 6 Americans — are living with food insecurity. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.