 |
Moringa Garden Circle Special Events |
MORINGA GARDEN CIRCLE’S ANNUAL FIELD TRIP   BOAT TOUR OF THE 10,000 ISLANDS - EVERGLADES CITY, FLORIDA For those who went to Everglades City on our club field trip, I just want to give you an update. I was there April 4th with my car club. We took the same boat with the same park ranger. You canl see how big the baby Ospreys have gotten. They are huge, beautiful but still don't have their flight wings yet. Remember the island with all the raccoons, well the park ranger told me they just all disappeared over night, strange... Carol D.
Moringa plays in the Mud!  This incredible group of women each has her own STRONG identity. We have decided to create a pin that will proudly declare we are a GROUP. View The Creation of the Moringa Pin.
2003 - 2004 ANNUAL REPORT
This is my swan song, dear friends. Thank you for the pleasure of serving as your President for these past two years. I have enjoyed my relationship in this capacity most especially because it has provided me the opportunity to better know each of you. How very fortunate I am for that! Moringa “girls” are so unique, so vibrant and so much fun, that, from the very beginning, I felt we should have an identifying symbol of our own. I’ve always loved the simple rendering of the Moringa flower we use and just knew it would make lovely design for a pin. I only had to mention it to M.E. and, poof, she located a ceramic designer willing to make the mold. I then mentioned it to Karen, and, poof, she met with the designer and gathered the troops and went into production. Today we have our pin - our defining mark!! What a wonderful legacy and, I thank you all for making it happen. Now it is time to review this past year…. Which started off with a very big bang!!! Who could forget Michele Myers waiving her bid sign for almost every item that went up for auction at our September White Elephant Sale? With M.E. following close behind, we raised over $1,200 that evening. Bless Mary Sue and Karen for their hard work. It was truly one of the most laugh-filled events we have ever had. As FGC Civic Improvement Chair, Rose took on the renovation of the Sensory Garden at the Lighthouse for the Blind and the Dedication ceremony in honor of Mary Secrist. Joan Czukor raised funds, Jeanne Littell graciously donated her Moringa tree, Melinda and her youth gardeners finished the mosaic on the wall surround and donated a Spathodea tree to the newly-formed LHB youth gardeners, while the remainder of the Moringa members pitched in with landscaping, clean-up and refreshments for the dedication. Great job, Rose, and appreciation to all who helped in this worthwhile endeavor. Evelyn continued her work at Stranahan House, sprucing up the landscaping with new roses this year. The Stranahan House presented Evelyn (on behalf of Morgina Garden Circle) with a 10-year commemorative pin for her service on their behalf. Congratulations, Evelyn! Our contributions continued … Diane created a beautiful Sugar and Spice basket for the FGC Holiday Fundraiser and Mary Sue worked with me on the District 11 Festival of the Trees fundraiser at the Museum of Art. Our mini fundraisers – the sale of garden gloves and hibiscus decals proved to be a success – and many thanks to Barbi and Joan Auletta for their great salesmanship. October found us at the home of Maureen Frazel where we took a moonlight tour of her garden containing prize-winning bromeliads. We are so lucky to have Maureen in our organization… we have learned so much from her and from Jeanne, who fascinated us with her report on the Mantis. In November, Diane hosted our meeting at her lovely home where we participated in Karen’s Chat Room questionnaire. Best answers came from the questions: what’s your favorite curse word and what excites you? Our spicy Moringa girls didn’t disappoint us with their answers. Trays of Poinsettias and a great report were provided by Sandy. We gathered at Starr’s home for our annual holiday party. Karen beautifully “signed” Christmas carols while the rest of us raised our voices (again, very loudly) in song. Thanks to Bonny for providing the song books in a large print version and Jennifer for the stylish invitations. Jen and Jan were lovely hostesses… so lovely that Jan became engaged to Forest that evening. Our best wishes to both for a long and happy life together. We rang in 2004 in our very best role… as hostesses of the Fort Lauderdale Garden Club’s January meeting. Moringa is known for their love of food and great culinary skills. We did not disappoint!! Everyone pitched in with savory contributions, and Barbi, as chair, ably coordinated this successful event - not an easy task for sure. Moringa’s “godmother” Ann Schandelmayer was our featured speaker at the January meeting. Carol welcomed us with warm hospitality and Ann’s program helped prepare us for our horticulture entries into the flower show. We learned… and it paid off. Our participation in the FGC Standard Flower Show was well rewarded. Our Jennifer brought home the National Arboreal Award for her Moringa entry while many others brought home national, state and local awards. Overall we garnered 37 blue ribbons. Janice organized a fantastic field trip. What a wonderful, warm and fun-filled day. The journey was as great as the destination – Everglades National Park. With Bloody Marys, bagels, coffee, hot chocolate, donuts and song, there were smiles all around. The beautiful 10,000 islands welcomed us with flora and fauna, dolphins dancing and birds perching. Lunch at the historic Everglades Rod and Gun Club was very charming and we came home happy and satiated. Thank you, Janet - your hard work paid off. Our February Business meeting was very productive. We approved two new members, a bylaws change (we now require maintaining an Active membership for ten years prior to eligibility to Associate status) and disbursement of contributions. Moringa contributed three Wekiva Youth Camp scholarships, monies to Habitat for Humanity, ECHO, World Gardening, Penal Therapy, Crystal for the Flower Show and an Honor Garden Brick. Betty Ann is the Chair of the FGC Honor Garden and we were thrilled to support her efforts to the tune of 16 bricks from Moringa. We were also proud to report to Ann Schandelmayer, Tree Chair, that Moringa planted 112 trees (100 planted by Starr alone). During
February, several of us joined Diane for a Moonlight Garden Tour of
Viscaya Gardens and a great dinner at Alliean’s favorite little
Cuban restaurant. Thank you both for the lovely evening!
The Youth Gardeners, ably led by Melinda Diane, Hadny, Rose and Bonny, had a fun-filled Flower Show with many of their prodigies winning blue ribbons. Bonny continued her support of youth gardening by sponsoring the Arbor Day festivities. Sincere thanks to all of you… your good works will affect many lives. Who could ask for anything more? Melinda hosted our April meeting where Ann and Hadny prepared a great meal for us. Ann’s friend, Sheila Ellen, donated her services and we raffled off 15-minute messages throughout the evening with proceeds going to Moringa. How very kind of Sheila. We had an opportunity to see the Wekiva Youth Camp Video. It was excellent and Moringa gave it a five-star rating! We also recognized Pat Miller, Maureen Lubbers and Alliean Roberts, all members pre-1960, for their years of service to Morigna. By unanimous approval, all are now designated as Charter members. Another bylaw change (the first reading) was enacted at this meeting. Membership dues are now delinquent after April 1st (rather than after the April meeting). Our meeting ended with our program “Crafty Cup N Saucer”, another of Karen’s projects. It was great fun and Karen did a remarkable job of putting this together … all this work for our pleasure alone! That was our last meeting. There are still a few people I would like to recognize… M.E. DePalma deserves our gratitude for her tireless, creative and timely work on Moringa’s website. She started us on the “information highway” and propelled us at warp speed with a site that is truly outstanding. We are very proud of our website. What more can I say? Just, thank you, M.E And thank you to all who served on committees, hosted meetings, provided refreshments, and ably served in any capacity for the betterment of the club and the Fort Lauderdale Garden Clubs. My special gratitude goes to Karen, Joan and Sandy. I couldn’t have asked for a better team and I couldn’t have done it without them or without all of you. My deep appreciation for giving me two great years. Girlfriends, you are the best! Thank you and all. Respectfully submitted,
|
