“I am writing this letter in support of Desert Compost. In October of 2021, the Neighbors-4-Neighbors community food distribution program at St. Margaret’s (N4N) entered into a formal partnership with the Desert Compost Community Coalition led by Haley Preston. In an effort to successfully live into St.Margaret’s newly developed strategic plan, being better stewards of our earth is high on our priority list for the upcoming years. To this end, this partnership was formed to reduce landfill-bound organic waste which is generated weekly by our Neighbors-4-Neighbors community food distribution program, which feeds 400-500 families weekly. Haley’s passion for taking care of the earth through composting is infectious. Her leadership, and the enthusiasm of the entire team, made it extremely easy for us to launch this partnership and actually get composting within a 45-day period! Haley and the DC team have made it very easy logistically to develop our partnership, by developing a solid MOU and doing all necessary footwork with the City of Palm Desert. With her leadership, they have also been excellent guides in helping us understand the importance of this work for the earth and future generations, as well as actually walking us through the actual composting process step by step as we are turning food scraps into beautiful healthy usable earth!

Thank you Haley, and the whole DC team for being excellent stewards of the earth, sage guides and wonderful teachers!”

Chet Hecht

Outreach & Community Engagement Director

St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church