Nov. 2, 2022 • Volume 11, Issue 11 • Complimentary • HiltonHeadSun.com
PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID BLUFFTON, SC PERMIT NO. 135 POSTAL CUSTOMER
Clinic turns green space into leafy greens, fruit for community By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR
When John Newman looks at the land around Hilton Head’s Volunteers in Medicine, he sees an opportunity to enhance his patients’ diet with fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs in addition to the health and wellness that happens inside the clinic. “People would bring their excess garden produce to us. At the front door we would have three or four bags, and we would just give it to whoever was lucky enough to be in the waiting room that day,” he said. “They would make out like a bandit, but they truly would be joyful. So how can we make that work that (it) occurs on a more frequent basis?”
Newman is the executive director and chief medical officer of Volunteers in Medicine, a free clinic founded in 1993 that serves workers who live or work on Hilton Head and Daufuskie islands. “The core of our business is taking care of those that need health care, and don’t have health care,” Newman said. The one-story building at 15 Northridge Drive has small patches of greenspace around it, and that gave Newman ideas. Between the clinic and the adjacent offices where counselors address wellness, he and several volunteers removed all of the bushes except for the palm trees. One section is now a garden for herbs, and four huge dirt-
Please see GREENS on page 8A
Six months ago, John Newman, executive director of the nonprofit Volunteers in Medicine Hilton Head, and some volunteers planted two small Ponderosa lemon trees in front of the clinic. Now they are growing and laden with fruit that threatens to bend them in half. “I don’t know why you need a lemon that big,” he said, “but I couldn’t resist putting it out front as the kind of Christmas tree of the clinic.”
Exercise your right to vote at polls on Nov. 8 Early voting has begun and will continue through Nov. 5. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Registered voters may vote early at any of four locations in Beaufort County: Bluffton: Board of Voter Registration and Elections Satellite Office - Bluffton Recreation Center 61-B Ulmer Road. Hilton Head Island: Government Complex, 539 William Hilton Pkwy. Beaufort: Board of Voter Registration and Elections Main Office, 15 John Galt Road.
School support plan addresses learning, behavior skills 12A
you go to the correct precinct, or visit scvotes.gov to check. Voters may view their sample ballot online at scvotes.gov, by clicking on the Get My Sample Ballot box on the home page. Voters may print out these sample ballots to take to the poll when voting in person but may not share it with others there. For more information about voting, polling place locations and candidates, visit scvotes.gov or vote411.org/south-carolina.
Saint Helena Island: Saint Helena Library, 6355 Jonathon Francis Senior Road. Absentee ballots must be received at the county Voter Registration office by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Call the Board of Voter Registration and Elections at 843-255-6900 for details. (The deadline for applying for absentee ballots has passed.) Election Day is Nov. 8, for in-person voting only. Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Check your voter registration card to make sure
Partnership helps feed island commuters 16A
Vacationer grateful for new special care nursery 24A
Girl Scout wins Gold Award for conservation work 29A
Sunny Side Up 3A • Editorial 4A • Sun on the Street 6A • Noteworthy 42A • Business 45A • Health 49A • Wellness 51A • Faith 52A • Travel 53A • Pets 55A • Nature 58A • Home 61A