(Chelsea Update would like to thank Mary Jo Frank for the photo and information in this story.)
The Chelsea Area Garden Club (CAGC) will award a limited number of grants of up to $1,000 in 2019 to local nonprofit organizations for sustainable horticulture-related projects.
The application deadline is Nov. 30, 2018.
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 at www.chelseagardenclub.com and on Facebook at Chelsea Garden Club or by calling Charlene Harris at 734-433-9773.
Applications, postmarked no later than Nov. 30, 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.
Recipients of 2018 CAGC grants presented reports on their projects at the club’s October autumn harvest potluck.
Two recipients, the Chelsea Senior Center and the Chelsea Farmers Market, collaborated and combined their grants to hire summer intern Jill Schaefer, a graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and School of Social Work. Schaefer oversaw the senior center’s intergenerational garden and led programs at the Chelsea Farmers Market children’s tent.
Speaking on behalf of the senior center, Jim Randolph thanked the club for supporting the intergenerational garden and its programs. He said in addition to introducing children to the joys of playing in the garden, Schaefer gave seniors an opportunity to participate in a manageable gardening experience and helped bridge the gap between the two generations.
Under Schaefer’s leadership, the children and seniors grew more than 500 pounds of food, which was used in community nutrition programs for seniors and cooking demonstrations for youth and seniors.
More than 400 children and 50 seniors and disabled adults participated in intergenerational gardening programs this summer.
Schaefer organized and led a variety of hands-on activities at the Chelsea Farmers Market for children ages 2 to 10 that ranged from creating food sculptures out of market produce to lessons on how bees pollinate plants and the importance of hydration, for plants and people.
Other 2018 grant recipients who presented at the meeting and their projects included:
- Chelsea Area Historical Society to redo landscaping at the front entrance of the Chelsea Historical Museum, 128 Jackson St.
- Chelsea District Library to enhance plantings at Katie’s Korner.
- Faith in Action Chelsea to repair fences at the Chelsea Community Garden and to purchase two heavy-duty garden carts. The community garden has 43 individual plots and is located off Sibley Road behind Timbertown.
- Waterloo Area Historical Society for drip irrigation and pavers for rose beds next to the pergola that is used for weddings and other events at the Waterloo Farm Museum in Grass Lake Charter Township.
The CAGC also awarded a $1,000 scholarship to 2018 Chelsea High School graduate Emma Javis, a nursing student at Eastern Michigan University.
The CAGC raises money for horticulture–related grants and scholarships and for civic beautification through its spring plant sale.
The 2019 plant sale will be held May 11, 8 a.m.- noon at the Chelsea Community Fairgrounds, 20501 W. Old U.S. Highway-12.
