Pheonix Copley, Tobias Geisser help in the Hershey Community Garden

On Wednesday Tobias Geisser and Pheonix Copley visited the Hershey Community Garden to help close it out for the winter.

The Hershey Community Garden, made up of different plots owned by companies and individuals within the Hershey and Derry Township community, opened in the Spring of 2014 at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

The Hershey Company, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, and the Medical Center own a large plot where they maintain plants and give people a place to go get hands-on.

Getting out into the community has become an important thing for Geisser, Copley, and the Bears.

“The community here does a lot for the team,” said Copley, “and we get to give it back, it’s awesome and we all enjoy doing it.”

“You get to meet people in the community and you get a feel for the community that you’re [living] in.”

“I love how we can help out,” Geisser remarked. “I try to get out as much as I can.”

While Bears players have the opportunity to do many community events such as visiting the Penn State Children’s Hospital, helping do some work in the Community Gardens is a new experience for a guy like Copley. “It’s nice to do different things and especially in a place like Hershey.”

“We do a lot of events that you wouldn’t ordinarily get a chance to do, like with the Hershey Company. I have never done anything like this with a hockey team before, its a nice thing that [we] get to do.”

Although this was a first for both of them, the two hockey players do have some familiarity with being gardeners. “My parents own a garden back home,” said Geisser. “I helped them out but I am not very experienced.”