COMMUNITY PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES 

Special Event: A Gaggle of Games
Fall of 2008 will see community participation in “A Gaggle of Games” afternoon of fun to raise funds for flowers.  Garden Club members donate their time and efforts throughout the year to provide floral pieces for a variety of community projects and fund raisers, such as the Gift of Life Foundation, the Education Foundation and the Veterans’s Association. The profits from this event will go toward the cost of these flowers.

Daffodil Show
Our Garden Club, under the leadership of Patricia Shillingburg, will present a Daffodil Show for the entire community.  This event has become a tradition in our club since its inception many years ago, by a very dear and departed Garden Club member, Alice Fiske.  Everyone is invited to participate, and, of course, to view and enjoy the spectacular event.

CONTINUING COMMUNITY PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

Adopted Spaces
Our little band of roving gardeners, including Christina Cunningham, Paulette Van Vranken and Yioula Van Rynbach, have adopted some very visible spots to clean up and care for. Among these are the Ram Island causeway, the bluff at Clinton Avenue and Wade’s Beach. For example, joined some of the Shelter Island Paulette Van Vranken helped school children to plant grasses for erosion control at Wade’s beach with the Group for the South Fork.

Civic and Roadside
Jean McClintock secures the new plantings and oversees the team of “Garden Godmothers” that maintain and beautify our Island gardens.  Godmothers’ Gardens include: the George’s IGA Corner, the Center Post Office boxes, the Havens House 350th Anniversary & Herb Gardens, the Heights Post Office flower boxes and tubs, the Whale’s Tale Circle at Manwaring & St. Mary’s Roads, the Shelter island Library Sitting Garden, the Mashomack entrance sign, the South Ferry Rowboat, the flower boxes behind City Hall and the Wilson’s Circle in the Center.
 
Community Events
We contribute to and participate in many varied events each year.  These include the Historical Society’s yearly Fall Harvest Festival where we hold a community plant exchange and repotting workshop. We create flower arrangements for charitable fund-raising events. These include the Historical Society’s Heights House Tour every other year, the Gift of Life Foundation benefit and The Educational Foundation benefit.  We plant trees and share an Arbor Day celebration with the Shelter Island School.  We create Memorial Day wreaths for the Veteran’s Association celebration, and we host a Garden Club Memorial Sunday at the Union Chapel as a time to honor and remember our members who have died during the current year. We share many of our Garden Club events with the community, such as the Plant Exchange in the spring, the upcoming Standard Flower Show & House Tour in the summer and the Holiday Workshop to close our Garden Club year in late fall. In addition, we open a select number of programs presented at our Club meetings throughout the year to the community. ) 

Conservation
Paulette Van Vranken, Yioula Van Rynbach and their volunteer group maintain the Native Plant Garden at Mashomack Preserve. They also keep both club and community members aware and informed of environmental is¬sues by writing newspaper articles and giving reports and by introducing wild plants, flowers and invasive species relating to conservation issues during Club meet¬ings.
  
Garden Therapy
Ann Diefendorf and IdaMarie Bottone, along with a host of volunteers, create and deliver small bouquets with “Meals on Wheels” trays and conduct flower arranging workshops at San Simeon-by-the-Sound adult care facility. 

Garden Therapy (Youth Division)
Youth Division members, cheer shut-in community residents with floral gifts that accompany the Meals-on-Wheels program.

Herb Garden
Carmel Bodner, Elizabeth Munson, Trina Waldron and several other members, maintain a wonderful colonial herb garden at the Historical Society’s Havens House. Mr. Bodner is also an appreciated, loyal helper at the herb garden.

Library Flowers
Every two weeks throughout the year, a different Garden Club member graces the Shelter Island Library with a floral arrangement with a list of plant materials on display. This program is a learning tool for the commu¬nity. Pat Rosenberg recruits members to participate in this much appreciated program. 

Memorials
Every year, we donate an appropriate book to the Library for each member who had died. Other memorials, such as benches and trees, are placed in public places for the enjoyment of the whole community. 

Website
Patricia Shillingburg has provided members and the community with instant access to all of our activities and events through the establishment of a website, www.shelter-island/garden_club.  Flower Show information, club meetings, events and any information of importance to our members and to the community relating to Garden Club will be found at the website.  

Youth
Youth Division meetings are held from 2:30pm to 4pm on Tuesdays at the SI School Cafeteria throughout the school year. Youth members range in age from 5 to 12 and may join at anytime.  The curriculum is designed to parallel the adult programs and to prepare the young members for the Adult Division of the Garden Club.
    The Courtyard Garden, located behind the school cafeteria, has three teaching gardens: the Spring Garden (containing all 13 divisions of daffodils for use in the Daffodil Show): the Herb Garden and the Native Plant Garden (both these also being adapted for teaching).
Carol Russell (chair) has implemented classes in horticulture, floral crafts, flower arranging and garden lore using the Courtyard Garden as her classroom.

We welcome all members of the Shelter Island community to several events each year.  The descriptions, times and locations are found in the Calendar of Events and Programs for 2008.