On September 24 and 26, two employee volunteer groups from Dell Computer Corporation, which is headquartered in Austin, came to the Case Mill Homestead to help ABC with chores in its herbal gardens and various administrative tasks. Each group consisted of 12—15 volunteers, all of whom donated a day’s worth of labor to ABC.

Accordingly, ABC gardener Nathanael Sponseller had set up some much-needed garden projects for them. The first group helped Sponseller remove a large accumulation of branches and brush from the roadside next to the Case Mill Homestead, eliminating a chronic eyesore and opening a large amount of previously unusable space for ABC. The volunteers then moved the brush to the compost pile, a task that could have taken Sponseller days to do alone.

Two days later, the second group of volunteers arrived at ABC only to have rain cancel plans for working in the gardens. Instead, they took on a variety of administrative tasks that might otherwise never get accomplished.

The volunteers gave their time and effort to ABC as a part of Dell’s Global Community Involvement Week. The program, in its second year, is part of an internal employee effort designed to build trust and camaraderie among Dell employees while at the same time benefiting the communities where Dell is based. The Dell employees choose a nonprofit organization to which they would be willing to donate time and effort.

–Jon Lucksinger