MASSARO: For urban gardener David Conant, volunteerism is in his nature

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

David Conant works the soil recently at Rosedale Community Garden in south-central Denver. Besides gardening, Conant, the Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award winner for June, works on behalf of the hearing-impaired.

David Conant really digs helping people. He spends a lot of time bouncing back and forth between a couple of volunteer ventures.

He pitches in on behalf of the Denver chapter of Hearing Loss Association of America.

He is also deeply involved in Denver Urban Gardens. He was instrumental in encouraging others to share their bounty with Project Angel Heart, a nonprofit that provides hot meals to people who have HIV-AIDS, cancer or other life-threatening illness.

Conant has been selected the Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award for June, named in honor of the late community activist.

Conant, 79, started volunteering with Citizens for Global Change.

"We'd go to Washington once a year and lobby our local representatives. We'd write letters to newspapers," he said. "Peace activism is what it was."

Along the way, his hearing got progressively worse. So he began volunteering with the Hearing Loss Association of America.

"I wanted to see something more tangible at the end of the day," he said.

He has given talks to people, sharing tips on how to cope.Then he became involved with community gardens, through which he recruits gardeners by talking up the benefits of growing nutritious food.

"We're also typically known as the garden that shares," he said. "Every year we give many thousands of pounds of food to Project Angel Heart. Every Monday morning in July, we share our bounty of produce."

Last year's harvest wasn't as bountiful - about 3,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables donated.

"Some years, it has been as high as 5,000 pounds," Conant said.

Conant himself likes to dig in the dirt.

"For many people, it's a spiritual place," he said. "It's almost a therapy. It's more than just growing a nice, vine-ripened tomato."

The garden has offered him some solace for his hearing loss.

"When you have a hearing loss, your world shrinks," he said. "People become alienated. They lose their sense of worth to their family, to their community."

Conant grew up on a New England farm.

"My father instilled in me those values of hard work and giving back," he said.

He came to University of Denver in 1950, graduating with a degree in liberal arts. He worked for the Social Security Administration for 35 years.

He foraged for wild food, volunteering at nature centers and pointing out what plants were safe to eat and how to fix them.

"You can only do so much golf or recreational activities. You need to do something, to give something back to give life meaning," he said.

He does have a hobby - playing pingpong. In fact, he and his partner, Mike Morita, of Fort Collins, won the gold medal at the State Senior Games, qualifying for the nationals next year.

• July 22, 2008

  9:32 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  unvarnishedtruth writes:

  Dave is AWESOME! We in the hard of hearing community are very pleased that he has received this much received award!

• July 22, 2008

  9:39 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  unvarnishedtruth writes:

  correction! Dave received this much DESERVED award!

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