New Madison School Board member looks to use personal experience to inform role Growing up with an unstable housing situation and receiving help from the Madison School District for a speech impediment, Savion Castro hopes to use his experience in Madison schools now that he is part of the board.

Every Monday morning, the group of veterans and their families come together to look after the four 20-by-40-foot plots growing a multitude of vegetables, including onions, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs, leeks, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower.

Members help each other plant, grow and harvest the crops, sharing casual conversation and refreshments for their potluck-style lunches.

The gardening has been a valuable outlet for recovering veterans, said Matthew Heldman, peer specialist at the Department of Veterans Affairs who served in the Air Force for four years.

Adding machines, JFK and boneless ham: Life in Madison in the 1960s Take a trip down memory lane with this collection of Wisconsin Historical Society photos of life in Madison in the 1960s.

“It’s very therapeutic to be out here in the soil and give back to the vets,” Heldman said. “As a veteran, this is something I want other veterans to know about.”

Heldman has worked with the VA to introduce Gardening for Good to other veterans in the Madison area.

“The community made the program, and I’m just happy to be here,” he said.

The emphasis on community has been there since the beginning, said Marge Pitts, who founded Gardening for Good in 2016 with a few other community members. Her goal was to create a small gardening club for her veteran friends, but the program grew to roughly 10 members.