Garden provides hope to those in shelters

Editor:

First of all, I would like to thank The News-Times for printing the picture with the headline, Arbor donated, in the Sept. 5 edition. But credit needs to be given where credit is due. There was no mention of the reason for the garden and how it developed.

The Garden Club of Georgia has as a project, Plant for Hope, developed by the president, Jaydee Ager. The project is to encourage member clubs to get involved at their local level with the domestic violence shelters for women and their children, child abuse shelters and the Ronald McDonald Houses.

These facilities offer safe haven for persons and families in distress, and provide them a basis of hope for their future. The garden clubs' role is to get involved by improving the grounds of these facilities. This would be planting a garden, trees and shrubs, providing a place of beauty, joy, peace, serenity and hope for a brighter day for the residents of the homes.

The development and planting of the garden at the Ronald McDonald House was carried out by the members of the Garden Arts Garden Club of Augusta, their husbands, community businesses and the alumni of Pennsylvania State. With joint effort this garden, patterned after a garden in France, came to fruition.

The arbor built by the Rotary Club of Columbia County is a needed feature in the garden and many thanks go to the members who built it. It will offer a place of rest and relaxation for the residence.

Vikki Adkins, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House, with much appreciation, named the garden The Hope Garden. It was truly a project of love and dedication, and the name Hope is surely appropriate.

Mary S. Byrd, Plant for Hope chairman

Azalea District

Garden Club of Georgia