75th News
We’ve been celebrating our 75th Year during the “garden year” of 2007-8 and have had a great time. Mary Hassing did a wonderful job of publicity for our Club. June Johnson gathered a research group which included Cathryn Craft and some of our Honorary Members. Mary and June combined forces and set up an interview with Edie Westree. At 103 years old, Edie was able to provide a great history of the Club, which was found in the North County Times on February 22nd. June also provided Ellen McGrath-Thorpe many clippings spanning the years for this year’s Scrapbook which will be turned over to the Carlsbad Historical Society.
Marilyn Kasperick chaired an Executive Committee which included the above mentioned members, and Cynthia Phillips, President Anne Smith, Secretary Sue Kelly-Cochrane and Mary Tornborg. This group met several times and made many decisions concerning the Silver Jubilee Celebration on March 2nd.
Barbara Manzano, who is also a member of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation, suggested we use the Discovery Center as the site of our party. Cynthia and Jan Cannon took on the decorating of the tables. June provided a poster highlighting our history on an easel placed near the entrance. Sara Woollard organized a Food Committee which included Jan, Susan Ashley, Elaine Willingham, Dee Porter and Barbara Diamond. They provided an excellent repast which included gourmet appetizers, salad, quiche and desserts. The members were asked to acquire prizes for a Raffle, and by the day of the party, 36 prizes were donated by the Community solicited by Sue, Anne, Fran Munoz-Sahagun, Marilyn, both Marys, Elaine, Natalie Reed, Cindy, Jan and Treasurer Maxine Levine. Several Gifts were also donated by Members themselves: a floral arrangement by Jan, garden sculpture by Sharon Carleen, an oil painting by Anne, sketches and art lessons by Natalie and an Italian Dinner for 8 cooked by Cynthia. Robin Griswold donated a tremendous number of baskets which Sue, Marilyn, Cynthia and Mary T filled and wrapped with all of these gifts. Sue kept an inventory and Ellen set up baskets to hold the raffle tickets. Ellen also organized the 50/50 Raffle. All of the printing and mailing was donated by Anne; who also designed our logo. She selected and invited our guest speakers: Greg Rubin, an expert in Native Plants, Nikki Weaver, the Director of the Center, and Julie Nygaard, a member of the City Council.
The day was sunny and the Discovery Center looked beautiful, thanks to the efforts of the Decorating and Food Committees. 54 Guests came in and were greeted with glasses of cider. Many guests continued to buy raffle tickets. After they were seated, Anne welcomed them and then she presented each of the Speakers. At the end of their speeches, Julie read us a Proclamation sent to us by Mayor Bud Lewis. After the dessert, the raffle tickets were pulled. The lucky winner of the 50/50, specifically $260, was Cynthia’s daughter. There were 32 individuals who won the 57 gifts…lots of happy people!
Continuing in this spirit, over 70 gifts were given away to those who attended the Installation on May 2nd. More happy people! Anne, both Barbaras, Rita Koczela, Amy Davis, Maxine, Jeanette Sweringen, Ellen and Helena Gillmore formed a Committee to determine how we would spend the money from the Holiday Auction and the Celebrations. We were given “permission” to decide and act on our decisions and merely report back to the Club in September.
These are the decisions that we made:
1-“Community Membership” in the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation (AHLF). We are all familiar with this Foundation having either volunteered at the Discovery Center and/or attended the Gala Party there. Their goals as a group dovetail with our goals as a Garden Club both in terms of education and the preservation of Native Plants. $250 sent immediately.
2-Our traditional Mira Costa Scholarship.
The only input that we have in the selection process is that it will go to a Horticulture student. $800 sent immediately. Click here to see the latest on our Scholarship endeavors.
3-6 There are 4 Elementary Schools in
Carlsbad that responded to our interest in providing help. Each of these had received $2000 from the state to use on their gardens. To supplement these funds, checks/items ($150) each will be distributed in September. Click here to read more about this project in our Press Section. Click here to read more about this project in our Community Section.
3-Jefferson Street. Is looking for a partner to help and give them some direction. They have not spent the $2000 since they are not sure what to do. We have suggested that Sergio go out and give them some instruction/advise. The Principal would love some succulents and educational materials for the children so that they would be doing more than “playing in the dirt”.
4-Hope School.
Has a well established garden and 2 dynamic mothers who have taken a lot on. They have feverously spent the $2000 creating an environment and program to integrate the garden into the classes. They need money for new plants (especially succulents), tools and a butterfly house. They want to add more drip irrigation and a large potting bench.
5-Calavera Hills School. Garden in transition using the state money. What they would appreciate would be plants that attract butterflies as well as native plants.
6-Poinsettia. This is a new school starting from scratch. He provided a design and a list of supplies and they have been spending the $2000. The part I found most interesting was his desire to start a total school wide recycling program which involves composting and a worm farm system. He needs about $100 to buy the wood to finalize the worm habitat….and $500 to buy the worms.
7-Barbara Diamond suggested helping the Carlsbad Senior Center with a gardening project. A group of developmentally challenged adults will be decorating and planting some donated window boxes. A check for $100 was delivered by Barbara.
We will use some of the money to solve some “old problems”.
8-A new stable lightweight table to replace the least stable of the tables. Marilyn has taken on this project with a guarantee from Debbie to continue storing. $50.00 allowed.
9-An audio system to deal with the acoustics in Heritage Hall and our evolving hearing issues. After research in local stores and on online, Ellen and Jeanette and their families selected a wireless hand-free DAK system which will be in use for the September Meeting. $175 ($25 over budget).TOTAL: $1975 out of the $2100 we had to spend.
We will add the remaining $ for some ongoing projects.
10-Rancho Carlsbad Seniors for the Boys and Girls Club. Among other activities at Rancho Carlsbad, the young people have been provided with a garden and several members are there every Thursday afternoon to work with the children. So far we have donated a flat of plants (a Jan Cannon contribution),10 tomato cages and a 50’ heavy duty hose. $57 out of $100, so the rest will be spent as needed (Community Fund).
11-Petals for Patriots. This is a new community outreach program which will need some startup money, as an offshoot of a program already started by the Palomar District. Bouquets are brought to wounded Service People in the Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego, while the new program will do the same but at Camp Pendleton. We will put the last $25 toward our Charity Fund for next year. Click here to read more about Petals for Patriots.
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