Community Outreach

The Glass Garden is a botanical garden and as such is open 365 days a year to the public.  In addition to its many outstanding horticulture and horticultural therapy programs for patients and families of Rusk Institute and NYU Medical Center, it is extremely proud of the services it offers to the New York City community.

As the only botanic garden in the US fully staffed by professional horticultural therapists, the Glass Garden is in the unique position of being in high demand to provide therapeutic and/or educational services for special needs groups from facilities throughout the City.  Group visitors include individuals from other hospitals, nursing homes, healthcare facilities as well as public and private schools.  These individuals do not normally have access to the restorative environment of a garden.

A typical program includes a one-hour environmental/educational tour in the Garden followed by a one-hour hands-on activity with a plant to bring home.  The professional staff is able to engage individuals of all ages and with all disabilities.  The programs are focused on “wellness” and competencies with horticulture as the motivator.  Visitors have the opportunity to gain the benefits of time spent in a restorative environment: renewed energy, improved concentration, reduced anxiety, stress and muscle tension and lower blood pressure.

On-Site Services for Community Groups:

• YAI (National Institute for People with Disabilities) – a twice weekly pre-vocational program for individuals who are developmentally disabled
• Bellevue Pediatric Infectious Disease Clinic – a summer environmental educational/nutrition program for children and families infected with HIV
• Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center – a bi-monthly horticulture program for residents of TCCHCC, including groups with HIV, Huntington’s Disease, Alzheimer’s, and so forth
• Gillen Brewer School – a summer horticulture program for developmentally disabled preschoolers
• ADEPT (Bellevue Drug and Alcohol Day Program) – a monthly horticulture program for individuals from the ADEPT program
• Visitor programs for other institutions, including Service Program for Older Adults, Tudor Time School, Mary Manning Walsh Nursing Home, the DOOR.
• “Budding Gardener” classes in the spring and fall for pre-school community children to teach about gardens, plants and environmental stewardship
• “Growing Gardener” classes for elementary age children to teach about plant systems and environmental cycles
• Annual community Festival with petting farm animals attract 1000 community families for a fun-filled Sunday outing
• Aphasia Community Group horticulture program in collaboration with the Speech Therapy Department
• Alzheimer’s and Dementia program in collaboration with the Alzheimers and Dementia Research Program for individuals with second-stage disease
• City-As-School offers high school science credit for students particpating in the Glass Garden programs
• Salk Middle School science program for special education six grade class
• Professional Training offered to staff and students from various landscape architecture firms, University of Tennessee, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, St Louis Children’s Hospital, Wave Hill Gardens and so forth

In addition, the Glass Garden offers community families:

• a space for birthday parties
• a safe, well-maintained play space with equipment, toys, sand and water play

Off-Site Services for Community Groups:

• Project FIND A wellness twice-weekly horticulture program for formerly homeless seniors at the Woodstock Residence of Project FIND
• Adjunct Faculty at Rutgers, Chicago Botanic Garden, New York Botanic Garden, Philadelphia University, Columbia University Engineering Department

Annual Festivals:

COMMUNITY FESTIVAL Each year the Glass Garden holds an Annual Community Festival which features petting farm animals from Farm on the Mooove - a program of Green Chimney Farms, a residential treatment center for troubled youth in Putnam County New York. More than 1000 visitors participate in the day's activities supervised by the Glass Garden staff and volunteers.

TULIP FESTIVAL Each spring, the Glass Garden hosts a Tulip Festival for the Medical Center and local community. Visitors can wander through the Gardens, photograph the beauty, and enjoy the spring.