After the many programs and events, attendees of the Central Region Convention found new and/or renewed inspirations in Abe Lincoln’s Hometown, Springfield, IL. Abe, himself gave insights as to his life before traveling to Washington DC. There were leadership and awards workshops, reports from the state presidents and CR Chairmen, table discussions lead by CR Chairmen and tours visiting many of the historical places honoring Abraham Lin- coln. Thank you to all who made the 2016 Central Region Convention such coming wonderful event. Looking forward to winter and the fast approaching New Year, it is time to prepare and submit award applications for State, Central Re- gion, and NGC Awards. The award application is the same for Central Region and NGC Awards. Listings of all awards are on the CR and NGC websites. State Presidents, CR Chairman, District Directors please encourage clubs with projects to apply. There are so many wor- thy projects garden club members are doing which only their district and/or state hear about in reports or in newsletters. A word of encour- agement to four or five chairmen and club presidents resulted in five award applications. All five applications received awards at the Cen- tral Region Convention. Applications for the Award of Excellence and Award of Excellence for State Garden Clubs are due before January 1, 2017. Member Award of Honor applications should be sent to the State Award Chairman to be submitted the Region Awards Chairman. The Region Awards Chair- man forwards application to National Awards Chairman by February 20 th . Cont. pg.2 NGC Central Region Direc- tor’s Report Pgs. 1-2 The State We're In: State President’s Reports Pgs. 3-6 Garden Therapy Pg. 7 2016 Award Winners Pgs. 8-9 2017 Awards Pg. 10 National Garden Club Week Pg. 11 Membership Pg. 12 Native Plants Pg. 13 Smoky Bear / Woodsy Owl Pg. 14 Unified Project Pg. 15 Scholarship Pg. 16 Schools Pg. 17 2016 Central Region Convention Reprise Pg. 18-19 Contact Info & Next Newsletter Deadline Pg. 20 “Cultivating Connections” November 2016 Winter INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1
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Transcript
After the many programs and events, attendees of the Central Region
Convention found new and/or renewed inspirations in Abe Lincoln’s
Hometown, Springfield, IL.
Abe, himself gave insights as to his life before traveling to Washington
DC.
There were leadership and awards workshops, reports from the state
presidents and CR Chairmen, table discussions lead by CR Chairmen
and tours visiting many of the historical places honoring Abraham Lin-
coln. Thank you to all who made the 2016 Central Region Convention
such coming wonderful event.
Looking forward to winter and the fast approaching New Year, it is
time to prepare and submit award applications for State, Central Re-
gion, and NGC Awards. The award application is the same for Central
Region and NGC Awards. Listings of all awards are on the CR and
NGC websites. State Presidents, CR Chairman, District Directors
please encourage clubs with projects to apply. There are so many wor-
thy projects garden club members are doing which only their district
and/or state hear about in reports or in newsletters. A word of encour-
agement to four or five chairmen and club presidents resulted in five
award applications. All five applications received awards at the Cen-
tral Region Convention.
Applications for the Award of Excellence and Award of Excellence for
State Garden Clubs are due before January 1, 2017. Member Award of
Honor applications should be sent to the State Award Chairman to be
submitted the Region Awards Chairman. The Region Awards Chair-
man forwards application to National Awards Chairman by February
20th.
Cont. pg.2
NGC Central Region Direc-tor’s Report Pgs. 1-2
The State We're In:
State President’s Reports
Pgs. 3-6
Garden Therapy Pg. 7
2016 Award Winners
Pgs. 8-9
2017 Awards Pg. 10
National Garden Club Week
Pg. 11
Membership Pg. 12
Native Plants Pg. 13
Smoky Bear / Woodsy Owl
Pg. 14
Unified Project Pg. 15
Scholarship Pg. 16
Schools Pg. 17
2016 Central Region
Convention Reprise Pg. 18-19
Contact Info & Next
Newsletter Deadline Pg. 20
“Cultivating Connections”
November
2016
Winter
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
Thank you to the
Illinois Conven-
tion Committee
and the Hotel
President Abra-
ham Lincoln,
Springfield
(Doubletree by
Hilton) and its
staff .
They are to com-
mended for
providing a
friendly, helpful
venue for a won-
derful 2016 NGC
Central Region
“How do you plan to stay connected?”
CONNECTIONS IN ACTION
Remember to send flyers, programs, newsletters; etc.
with the CR and NGC Logos to Liz Murken by Decem-
ber 1, 2016 so she can compile NGC Award #25 Award
of Excellence for Regions. Thank you to all the of clubs
and members who have already incorporated the NGC
and CR logos on some form of publicity
Even after we put our gardens to bed for the winter sea-
son, garden club activities continue. This Central Re-
gion Director is most thankful for all of the Connections
Cultivated in 2015-2016 and looking forward to creating
more “Connections in 2017”.
Judy Newman
NGC Central Region Director
2
Wisconsin Attendees
2016 NGC Central Region
Convention
CONNECTED TO THE STATES WE’RE IN
INDIANA:
Hello from your gardening friends in Indiana. We are winding
down the gardens and projects here in Indiana. The Indiana Bi-
centennial is coming to a close for 2016. That means the two leg-
acy projects the Garden Club of Indiana was sponsoring is com-
ing to an end.
First, the floral tribute of yellow and blue flowers planted in
each of the 92 counties was completed.
Secondly, as I am writing this, the Blue Star Memorial dedica-
tion at the Richard Roudebush VA Medical Center will be com-
pleted on November 10 in Indianapolis.
All seven districts have hosted their fall district meetings with
much excitement and fan fair.
Additional Blue Star markers are scheduled in the future in
Munster, the Northwest District, and Sullivan.
We wish you much happiness and good health through the holi-
day season.
Jodi Meyer,
President, The Garden Club of Indiana
Iowa:
What beautiful weather we have had. Plenty of time to get every-
thing accomplished that needs doing. Iowa will be continuing to
work on planting native plants. We have encouraged our clubs
to beautify public places with native plants. We know they will
survive easier and longer in our environment. We are exploring
increasing our number of Blue star Markers. We installed a new
one in August and hope to install another in the Spring. We
were very glad that NGC Central Region succeeded in securing
our 501(c)3. We are encouraging each of our clubs to do the
same.
Loretta Daisy
President, Iowa Federated Garden Clubs, Inc.
State Flowers
3
NGC Central Region
STATE WE’RE IN, CON’T
MICHIGAN :
Michigan has had many measurable successes including four new Clubs join-
ing our organization this year for a total of 165 Clubs with 5,977 Members. In
October, we completed our 90th Blue Star Memorial Dedication and had three
rededications. MGC awarded $20,000 in Scholarships of $1,000 each to 20
deserving students in our colleges and universities.
We have been practicing “giving back” to our Clubs by instituting a “Profit
Sharing Plan.” Districts and Clubs who host any of our Flower Show, Land-
scape Design, Garden Study or Environmental Studies Schools, Symposiums
or State Conventions who do a good job in advertising with increased attend-
ance over the proposed budget, receive a check upon completion. The State
Garden Club receives 50%, District 25% and the local club(s) 25%. Sixty-four
students attended Landscape Design Course I in the new series.
We continue to celebrate excellence through the Club of Distinction Award.
Levels of achievement include Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Double Dia-
mond and Triple Diamond. Points are given for Membership, Meetings and
Schools (hosting and attendance), Youth Involvement, Award applications,
Projects, Publicity, Communications and Contributions.
To achieve a stellar Michigan Garden Clubs, Inc. operation, we have recom-
mended to our members, the comprehensive 596 page Michigan Nonprofit
Management Manual for human resource administration, laws, regulations,
government reporting, filing, budgets, fund development, accounting, technol-
ogy, record keeping and evaluation.
Marilyn McIntosh, President
4
5
STATE WE’RE IN, CON’T
MINNESOTA:
Greetings from the State of Minnesota.
Together We Can Cultivate Connections by Leaping into Action
Thinking back on this year, we have accomplished great things. I wish to thank all our
members for their hard work. We supported and honored our Veterans by the Blue
Star Markers and the flowers to the veterans in the VA home. We held two Basic De-
sign classes and are planning the next in the summer. The Symposium had good at-
tendance from three states. Our booth at the Renaissance Festival netted the highest
sales ever. We had FUN at our Flower Shows, garden tours and plant sales. These are
a few of our activities. Did we accomplish everything on the wish list? No. These are
opportunities for the future. I look forward to next year challenges.
Betty Beck
President, Federated Garden Clubs of Minnesota, Inc.
Current NGC Central Region Director and the Seven State Presidents
STATE WE’RE IN, CON’T
WISCONSIN:
Greetings from the great state of Wisconsin! The members of the Wisconsin
Garden Club Federation (WGCF) have had a busy summer tending local com-
munity gardens and plantings. Many clubs post signs in their plantings to pro-
vide information about their clubs. Our WGCF project is Gardening for Good.
We collaborated with the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics on
their new Therapy Garden. Built on the sight of an old helicopter pad, the gar-
den design created obstacles with weight limitations and water control. It is on
the roof over the hospital’s radiology department. Professional gardeners de-
signed and installed the permanent plantings including trees, bushes, perenni-
als and a green roof. (Even the Little Free Library, located in the garden, has a
green living roof.) WGCF members happily volunteered their time, money and
talents to plant annuals in all of the containers. The plantings will be changed
out with the seasons. Our small effort and contributions encouraged a donor
to step forward to supply funding for the annual plantings in the future. We
hope to continue volunteering our time and talents designing and planting the
containers. Named the Hilary Grace Healing Garden, this beautiful setting is a
welcome respite for patients, staff and visitors. A hummingbird was even re-
cently spotted enjoying the sweet nectar of the blooms.
Other activities, on an organizational level, are the creation of our new full col-
or membership promotion brochure and the recently published Month by
Month Garden Journal. We have gone electronic with our quarterly newslet-
ter. This has met with mixed results and will continue to be reviewed to meet
our members’ needs. We have held Garden Study School Courses 1 and 2 with
courses 3 and 4 planned for April and September 2017. A Flower Show Sym-
posium is scheduled for August 2017. We continue planning for our Garden
Education Summit/Tri-Refresher/CR meeting in October 2017. We hope to
see all of you in Wisconsin Dells, next year.
6
GARDEN THERAPY
7
Many of the Garden Clubs in Central Region already work on projects which can be classified
as Garden Therapy. However, there may be many clubs which are seeking to become involved
in Garden Therapy as a club project. First of all, it is helpful to understand what comprises
Garden Therapy. Horticultural activities as a means of rehabilitative therapy date all the way
back to the 1800s to Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was the first to record the positive effect on pa-
tients with mental illness of working in a garden. After World War II, garden therapy gained a
wider acceptance as a form of treatment for an extensive array of diagnoses and therapeutic
options. A therapeutic garden offers a plant-dominated environment which offers color, tex-
ture and scents, all designed to stimulate feelings of comfort, and vitality.
A therapeutic garden can offer a wide range of designs geared to facilitate interaction with the
healing elements of nature. Since there are many levels of involvement, depending on the lev-
el of impairment of the target group, a club’s project must take into consideration the level of
ability and activity the patients being treated can apply to the garden. For instance, many
clubs offer flower arranging to a local nursing home’s patients, as a way to bring the beauty of
nature within their environment. There are other clubs who work with the nursing home on a
grander scale to provide raised garden beds, with wide, paved pathways around the raised
beds to make the plantings accessible to even those residents confined to a wheelchair. Some
clubs involve the nursing home residents who are capable with spring planting programs, and
who assist with maintaining the beds throughout the growing season. Such gardens can be
placed where they are readily visible from the nursing home’s community rooms, so they can
enhance the environment of even those patients who cannot leave the facility.
A more ambitious project would be to work with a local botanical garden or park to establish a
garden designed to be appealing to those who are blind, as well as those with other physical or
mental disabilities. When planning such a garden, be sure to provide a firm surface for path-
ways, with a change in texture at the edges, to warn when people are veering off the path.
Paths should be a minimum of 5 feet wide for one-way traffic, and 7 feet wide for two-way traf-
fic. Avoid steep grades, and offer frequent seating options. Select plantings which present a
variety of textures, scents, and colors, while avoiding any plants with toxic elements. Water
features can also be incorporated to mask intrusive surrounding noises, such as street traffic,
and can provide a soothing sound to enhance the interest of the garden.
These are just a few suggestions for projects which can be undertaken to provide the therapeu-tic benefits of gardening to members of local communities. If you would like more infor-mation, please contact me at Sandra R. Wales, 563-299-1873, or [email protected].