Belchertown High School Girls Volleyball Team Maintain Healing Garden

WARE — Student athletes from Belchertown High School girls’ volleyball team did not let the rain keep them from recently volunteering their time maintaining the Healing Garden located at Baystate Mary Lane in Ware. The Saturday-morning time spent in the garden has been an annual event for the team, their coaches, parents, and friend Paul McGrath.

The team’s long-standing commitment to start their season volunteering on the grounds of the Healing Garden is an act of support for the patients and families facing cancer who find solace in the garden throughout the year. The players trim and prune plants, weed the flower beds, and transplant perennials so the garden always has something in bloom for its visitors.

The Healing Garden, which the team has adopted as a community volunteer project, is located in the courtyard of Baystate Mary Lane. It is a calming space designed as a respite for patients, caregivers, and their families. The oncology suite overlooks the garden, which was funded by the Walk of Champions.

Since 2010, Belchertown Girls Volleyball teams have raised over $23,000 in cooperation with its partners from Amherst and Ware during the Spike It for Life tournaments played each fall. Spike It for Life is the brand of a growing community of volleyball coaches, players, and events across Western Mass. with the specific purpose of combining sport and philanthropy to raise money for cancer research and supporting services. All proceeds have benefited the Baystate Regional Cancer Program at Baystate Mary Lane.