New Lighting & Electrical Wiring to Brighten Natick Farm in 2020

The future looks bright at Natick Community Organic Farm. The nonprofit has received a $20,000 a grant from the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation for the 2019 fiscal year. This money will help the organization, a popular destination for local residents, install energy-efficient lighting in all its buildings and to upgrade the electric service to its hen house and other animal outbuildings.

In January 2020, professionals from Eversource’s Direct Install Program will replace all the lightbulbs in the Farm’s buildings with LEDs and high-efficiency fluorescents. Over the summer, licensed contractors will install an underground electrical conduit to the Farm's chicken coop, and run new feeds.

“We’re really grateful to Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation for helping us tackle these projects,” says Casey Townsend, NCOF’s Executive Director. “We’re always looking for ways to be more sustainable.” New LEDs and high-efficiency fluorescents should also be cost-effective. “The new lighting should pay for itself in a little over a year,” adds Townsend. The work will cost $16,485. Eversource will cover 70% of the costs through a cash incentive.

The new wiring to the farm’s chicken coop and nearby small animal shelters, like the turkey house, will provide safe, ample, and reliable power. The Farm currently runs lights in the hen house year-round to encourage the hens to lay, and puts up heat lamps as needed in the early spring to warm the newborn lambs, kids, and piglets. “Reliable power is essential to keeping our animals comfortable, healthy, and safe” says Assistant Director Audrey Fergason, who heads up the Farm’s animal care. “It will make our jobs as farmers easier too.”

The new conduit and wiring will be installed by a licensed contractor, though the Farm may use the teens on its summer Teen Work Crew to help dig and fill the trench.

“Taking on both of these projects makes good strategic and financial sense for the Farm,” notes Townsend. “They will make our nonprofit more energy-efficient, and make the Farm a better place for staff, visitors, and our animals. They’ll also save money. We’ll be able to steer those savings towards mission-driven initiatives that impact our community, such as hiring more local teens and creating more educational programs like our new before-school care program.”

Natick Community Organic Farm is a certified-organic diversified working educational farm that has served the residents of Natick and Metrowest since 1975. Its 27 acres of conservation land are open daily during daylight hours with no admission fee for the public's visits and purchases. NCOF welcomes over 20,000 visitors annually and runs extensive hands-on educational programs for youth and adults. Local residents can see how the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation grant and local funds are benefiting the Natick Community Organic Farm by visiting the organization’s website, www.natickfarm.org.

“Supporting and celebrating our grant recipients is an honor we look forward to each year,” said Dana Neshe, president of the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation. “Our relationships with them have allowed Middlesex to deepen its understanding of the many challenges facing our neighbors today. Underwriting the organizations that work hard to face these challenges head-on is one way we seek to be right there with our community.”

About the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation

The Foundation was established in 2000 to further the philanthropic mission of Middlesex Savings Bank. Over the past 19 years, the Foundation has provided more than $7 million in grants to local nonprofit organizations, supporting services and programs in a wide variety of fields, including education and basic human services. Since the inception of the Foundation, Middlesex Savings Bank has funded the endowment with over $17 million in contributions. More information is available at https://www.middlesexbank.com/about-us/community-support/middlesex-savings-charitable-foundation.

About Middlesex Savings Bank

Middlesex Savings Bank, founded in 1835 and headquartered in Natick, Mass. is a mutual savings bank. As one of the largest independent banks in Massachusetts with nearly $5 billion in assets, the bank has been committed to providing outstanding value in consumer banking and business banking products for more than 180 years. The FDIC and DIF insured bank has 30 branch offices located in 25 communities – Acton, Ashland, Bedford, Bellingham, Boxborough, Concord, Framingham, Franklin, Groton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Littleton, Maynard, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Natick, Needham, Sherborn, Southborough, Sudbury, Walpole, Wayland, Wellesley, and Westford. For more information, please visit www.middlesexbank.com, and connect on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Natick Community Organic Farm

The Natick Community Organic Farm (NCOF) is a 501 [c] 3 organization with the mission of providing productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education to people of all ages, year-round. Started in 1975 by the Town of Natick as means of supplying summer jobs to two dozen at-risk youth, NCOF has blossomed into an award-winning, internationally recognized institution that has inspired dozens of community farms and farm-based education projects across the United States. By engaging people of all ages in real farmwork, NCOF challenges them physically and mentally, allows them to contribute to the success of something larger than themselves, and helps them to grow as people.Read more at www.natickfarm.org, or follow #natickfarm on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.