So often, in history, we hear the stories of pioneers, whose genuine dedication to simple projects have built the essential foundations of a better future. This is the case with the story of Jerry Nucci.
Five years ago, a few of my friends and I decided to promote zero waste through demonstrations of using worms bins and vessel composters to divert food and organic wastes from landfill and as a means of creating valuable soil ammendments. None of us had ever actually even used a worm bin or compost pile before, so it seemed appropriate to start learning how to be successful at building and maintaining a worm population, or a dynamic compost operation. So, I bought six pounds of worms online.
About five pounds of the redworms crawled away or died in the first week. They simply hated the environment I first created. Having seen worms naturally attracted to my test compost pile, I decided to throw my remaining worms into the compost.
My first attempt at composting wasn't going so well either. Seems that a compost won't start getting heat unless it has a particular volume, about a cubic meter. My wife and I didn't make enough food waste at home to give the demonstration the scale it required. Enter Jerry Nucci, owner of Nucci's Pizzaria, who started giving me all his pre-consumer lettuce wastes to put into the compost everyday. Discarding the outer leaves and the luttice hearts, that little restaurant produced an average of 20 pounds of lettuce per day. The worms really liked the lettuce scraps, and they prospered.
It was because of the success of that worm bin demonstration that county officials finally took serious note of our work, and they gave us a location and support to expand our vision. And that's how the ZerO Waste Park at Dairy Creek started.
I managed and maintained the worms and the composting at our park for the first year or so. Every day, I drove a couple of miles to the golf course, I gathered up the food wastes from the food and beverage concession, I fed the worms, I stirred the compost, I raked and swept. I gave and talks greeted the guests. I was getting tired, but I had not yet attracted any volunteers to help maintain the fledgling park. I was beginning to wonder if the project would actually become a sustainable program.
That's when Jerry Nucci offered to help me a couple of mornings per week. Jerry breathed life back into the gasping patient. After Jerry and I operated the park for another year, another fellow, Jim Matthias, offered to help as well. Now we have three workers, who contribute one or two hours per week each. Now it's easy.
Well, Jerry Nucci has had enough. He doesn't want to do the composting any more, but he will still bring his lettuce scraps to the worms. It's been five years since Jerry Nucci started supporting our zero waste park ideas. Without him, we would not be where we find ourselves today. The success we are enjoying today would have been impossible without the generous support of Jerry Nucci.
Jerry told me he was done on Monday. By Tuesday, Paul Van Beurdan volunteered to replace him. I really feel like the volunteer system for ZerO Waste Park maintenance is secured now, as we make our first replacements to our volunteer staff. This system looks like it will last. Free golf and cart for the volunteer compensation probably doesn't hurt, either!
Jerry Nucci went beyond the worm and compost demonstration. Jerry made a demonstration of contribution, of service and support. It's his demonstration of community activism that eventually attracted Jim, and eventually Paul, to become ZerO Waste Golfers. Thank you Jerry Nucci. Thank you for what you've done for the game of golf, what you've done for our community, and what you've done for me.
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