Garden Club of LBI receives awards

PROUD AWARD WINNERS: Accepting the awards are (from left) Lois Perry, Club President, Diane Macrides, Website/Social Media Director, and Barbara Duff, Awards Director.

The Garden Club of Long Beach Island recently received five awards for its community service in 2023 – two from the Garden Club of New Jersey, two more from the Central Atlantic Region of State Garden Clubs, and an additional award from the National Garden Club.

The Holiday Tour of Homes received an award from the Garden Club of New Jersey for an outstanding project or program.

“This recognition of the Garden Club of LBI’s largest fundraiser is very special because every club member participates,” said Gillian Rozicer, the club’s publicity director. “Bev Reitinger chaired the event.”

The Youth Garden Club, led by Jeannette Michelson and Ginny Scarlatelli, received the Violet M. Bennett Environmental Trophy for outstanding youth program. The program provides children with a fun extracurricular activity where they learn basic gardening and flower arranging skills, as well as the importance of planting native species to preserve the local ecosystem.

In addition to these state awards, the club was named the “Overall Winner” of the “National Garden Club Standard Flower Show Award” by the Central Atlantic Region of State Garden Clubs. The show, titled “It’s a Musical World,” was held at the LBI Foundation of the Arts and Sciences in May 2023. Co-chairs Julie Eller and Cindy McGrath were congratulated for the standard flower show qualifying at the regional level.

Additionally, Janice Stonaker received first place in the Central Atlantic Region of State Garden Club’s Yearbook Award category. The yearbook, which is distributed to every member of the Garden Club of LBI, was described as an easy-to-use source of information that “encourages participation and involvement.”

The National Garden Club presented the group with a Certificate of Recognition in the area of ​​Social Media/Website. Chair Diane Macrides received the award for her creativity and daily maintenance of the club’s website, Facebook and Instagram pages.

“It’s great that we get recognition for everything we do in the community,” Rozicer said. —EE