(Chelsea Update would like to thank Mary Jo Frank for the information in this story.)
The Chelsea Area Garden Club (CAGC) will award grants of up to $1,000 to local nonprofit organizations for sustainable horticulture-related projects. The application deadline is Dec. 10.
Grants support projects that promote the love of gardening, community beautification, environmentally responsible horticultural practices, and conservation through education and by example.
Applications and information about the annual grant program are available by clicking here or by calling Charlene Harris at 734-433-9773.
Applications, postmarked no later than Dec. 10, should be mailed to the CAGC Grant Program, P.O. Box 519, Chelsea, MI 48118. Applicants in the CAGC service area— Chelsea and western Washtenaw County—will be given preference. However, grants are available to those who live in the “service area” of our club. We have members who are residents of Dexter as well as Grass Lake,Gregory, Manchester, Stockbridge, Munith, so our service area is broader than just the Chelsea community.
Grant recipients will report on their projects at the garden club’s noon meeting Oct. 10, 2016 at Chelsea First United Methodist Church.
The garden club awarded more than $4,700 in grants and scholarships in 2015. Recipients included the St. Louis Center in Chelsea for its Take Root program that engages center residents in planting and maintaining St. Louis gardens and the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Dexter’s Giving Garden, which grew and donated more than 1,000 pounds of produce to Faith in Action and other hunger alleviation programs.
The CAGC also supports the Michigan State University Organic Farmer Training Program. The club awarded scholarships to three organic farmer students and donated funds for iPads, which enable the program to track yields and other crop metrics more efficiently.
This year, for the first time, the CAGC awarded a $1,000 scholarship to a Chelsea High School senior. Recipient Megan Heydlauff, a first-year MSU nursing student, was active in 4-H, participated in the Washtenaw County 4-H Exchange Program and attended the Michigan Farm Bureau’s Young People’s Citizenship Seminar in 2013. She also was a member of the National Honor Society, a Girl Scout, and a member of Chelsea’s concert, marching and pep bands.
The club raises money for horticulture–related grants and scholarships and for civic beautification through its spring plant sale.
The 2016 plant sale will be held on May 7 from 8 a.m.-noon at the Chelsea Community Fairgrounds, 20501 W. Old U.S.-12.
