http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20131228/NEWS02/712289876
Flower boxes with a winter theme and Christmas bows greet visitors to the Gallery At The Vault along Main Street in Springfield this week. The Springfield Garden Club made the display to help spruce up downtown. Photo: PHOTOS BY LEN EMERYPublished December 28, 2013 in the Rutland Herald Springfield Garden Club lauded for its volunteerism and civic green thumb By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer The Springfield Garden Club was thanked this week by the town for creating a “warm and colorful welcome” in the town. While the landscape may be frozen hard and barren, thoughts of banks of colorful flowers were still vivid, as the Springfield Select Board unanimously passed a proclamation in honor of the all-volunteer club Monday, an early Christmas gift to the town’s volunteer gardeners. Select Board member Michael Knoras said Friday he thought it was long overdue that the club was officially recognized by the town for its dedication. Knoras said the club was a “silent partner of the town of Springfield” when it comes to having the town put its best face forward. “And they will drag a hose 10 miles,” Knoras joked, referring to downtown watering efforts. “I just thought the town should give them a great round of applause.” “When it comes to beautification of the community, the Springfield Garden Club has set an example of excellence and dedication,” the proclamation began. “We take for granted the pleasure and harmony we feel when viewing these spots of beauty and harmony as we go about our daily lives,” it read, “in anticipation of many beautiful years to come.” Town Manager Robert Forguites enlisted former town employee Linda Rousse to write the proclamation in honor of the club, he said. Garden Club Co-President Therese Burton said Friday that the proclamation was greatly appreciated and a complete surprise. The club was founded in the 1940s, she said, and it’s always been dedicated to service in the community, whether the public gardens and flowers, or putting on the Festival of Trees, and raising money for school scholarships. The club maintains gardens in front of the Springfield Town Hall, downtown planters, the Town Square, and gardens at the intersection of Routes 11 and 106. “We never ask for money,” Burton said. He added that the group’s main fundraiser is the Festival of Trees, which the club has been putting on before Christmas for 21 years. This year, the event was held in The Grand Hall, the renovated public space at One Hundred River Street. The active club members make wreaths, centerpieces and table arrangements for sale. “We make nice decorative things,” she said, “and it gives us the income to do the things we do.” She said the club operates on a budget of about $10,000 for its community efforts, with at least $2,000 going toward scholarships, the rest on planting. Burton said if the club has a good fundraising year, the money for scholarships will be doubled. Money goes to students interested in horticulture or the environment, she said. Burton said this summer, there was a “horrible” event, when nighttime vandals pulled out many of the plants in the downtown planters. The ironic thing, she said, was the club members discovered the vandalism as they were on a bus leaving town for a garden-club field trip. “We saw the damage and were just horrified, but we couldn’t do anything,” Burton said. The town highway crew cleaned up the mess, she said, and the following day, club members replaced the plants that had been destroyed. “We had a lot of support from the community to rebuild the planters,” she said. She said the club has members outside Springfield, including Weathersfield, Saxtons River, Chester and Andover. There are about four dozen active members, who commit to working on three different work programs a year, she said. There is an equal number of “supportive” members, who help when they can, but aren’t obligated, she said. And many husbands are big helpers as well, she said. “Our members are like no other membership,” Burton said. “They are dedicated, hard workers. And they love what they’re doing.” 5p1.jpg CHRIS GAROFOLO PHOTO Glenna Richardson, Jocelyn Zezza and Therese Burton of the Springfield Garden Club attended the Monday night Selectboard meeting to receive a proclamation for the club's work.
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