COMMUNITY PROJECTS COMMITTEE
The purpose of the Community Projects Committee is to further Kanawha Garden Club's mission of promoting and aiding in civic improvement and beautification through the planning, planting and preservation of trees, flowers, and gardens in public and private areas. To these ends the committee contributes not only funds, but also the time, efforts and knowledge of its members.
Kanawha Garden Club meets this goal by supporting ongoing projects and by researching, financing and participating in new projects. One of our long time projects was Celebration Station which is a large community playground adjacent to an elementary school that draws children from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Celebration station has now been turned over to the community to maintain. We have also had a landscaping project at Hubbard Hospice House, West Virginia's first residential hospice. We purchased a number of large trees needed in the landscaping project, and this was our official Project 2000. In addition, Kanawha Garden Club financed a conifer garden that is part of a larger garden area at Hubbard Hospice House containing bird and butterfly gardens with handicapped paths and seating areas for patients and their families.
Kanawha Garden Club helped establish Ruffner Park, a green space or "passive park" on Kanawha Boulevard in Charleston. Trees were identified and signs were purchased and placed on the trees. The park is enjoyed by neighborhood residents and by employees from the West Virginia State Capitol who can walk two blocks to the Park and enjoy their lunches outside.
Another project was a $20,000 donation to the landscaping at the Clay Center. The club members had previously expressed a desire to make a large contribution to a project within the city. An ad hoc committee was assigned to research different ideas, the Clay Center was chosen. As an outcome of our interest, Kanawha Garden Club members asked by the Clay Center to advise on another area of landscaping, and we were instrumental in obtaining a landscape designer and providing guidance in the planting of the main circle at the Clay Center.
In 2006, KGC made a $10,800 donation to the Bridge Road Neighborhood Association. These funds were applied to the creation of a gateway at the north entrance to the business district and also went towards a small flagstone patio with a bench and trash can that is used daily by mothers awaiting the arrival of the schoolbus bringing their children home. An additional donation was made in 2009 and applied towards plant purchase in the Friends of Fernbank area.
2009 brought the approval of $10,000 funding for the Gateway Greensapce project at Leon Sullivan and Washington Streets, near the Clay Center. Funds will be used for the purchase of plant materials at one of the landscaped terraces being constructed at this site.
2009-2010 Chairman - Freddy Davis
