HANCOCK COUNTY — He took an old household gutter and other materials and engineered a nutrient-rich planter to keep water flowing to the plants that are growing out of the contraption.
Very little water is wasted or spilled over to make a mess.
The greenhouse project is just one of the many Ben Blachly worked on this summer volunteering his time and skills at Hope Center Indy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping survivors of human trafficking.
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Blachly, 18, New Palestine, has been working at the facility’s Blooming Hope Greenhouse, 11850 Brookville Road, where the Hope Center has been growing and selling flower baskets and produce to help raise money to build even more hydroponics systems to grow vegetables.
Blachly has been utilizing agricultural engineering techniques to efficiently grow food for residents at the Hope Center.
He was looking for a volunteering opportunity this summer. He got lucky finding one where he could help others while using his engineering skills, he said. Blachly, a senior at New Palestine High School, plans to go to college to become an engineer.
“I’ve always kind of been into plants, and this project let me do a couple of things I like to do,” Blachly said.
The experience has been rewarding, he said, knowing the growing units he’s helped design and engineer are helping people who’ve suffered through human trafficking.
Brian Thomas of the Hope Center has been overseeing the Blooming Hope Greenhouse project and working with Blachly to get it off the ground and growing.
“We’re trying to do things for the community and help these girls who’ve been through so much,” Thomas said.
The greenhouse will give residents of Hope Center Indy a place to work to learn skills like selling and caring for the vegetables and plants, before they leave to start their new lives.
“This also gives us an opportunity to make money to put back into the facility,” Thomas said.
They would not be able to build the Blooming Hope Greenhouse and sell produce to the community without the help of people like Blachly, who’ve given freely for others, Thomas said.
Blachly came into the project with some basic gardening skills, but coupled them with some newer engineering ideas. It has been a great combination.
“He’s got an engineering mind,” Thomas said. “He’s a real problem solver.”
Thomas showed off the table where they’re growing lettuce and explained how Blachly engineered a watering system, then connected it to a nearby barrel growing potatoes, so no water is ever wasted, but is always flowing.
“He built a really neat drip curtain here,” Thomas said.
Through horticultural engineering, which deals with the sun, water systems and air, they’ve created quite the modern greenhouse complete with hydroponic garden towers, vertical grow boxes and other engineering marvels.
They’re growing everything from lettuce, peppers, kale and potatoes to flowers for the fall, like mums.
With the school year kicking off last week, Blachly has to cut back his time volunteering at the greenhouse. But after his fall tennis season is over, he plans to work at the facility throughout the year when he’s able.
They’re planning on being open year-round and even growing and selling poinsettias for Christmas.
Hope Center Indy took over the former Marion County Home in 2017. The campus is at the corner of Carroll Road and U.S. 52, just west of the Marion/Hancock County line. The Blooming Hope Greenhouse is open to the community from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. All proceeds go back into the project and Hope Center Indy.
