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Awards – Other See also GCM awards . Award winner names from 1926-1986 are filed in the archives. 2022 Garden Club of New Jersey Yearbook 2021-22 — Award application by Editor, Claire Stepleton. Score 100%. Certificate of Merit with Gold Seal 1st Place YB-1 Yearbook (100-299 members). Website 2021-22 — Sue Young, 2st Vice President and Website Webmaster, and Sarah Stransky. Hanover Garden Club Trophy f or outstanding innovative project. Triangle Gardens (a CivicBeautification project since 1952). Award application by Susan Yu, TriangleGardens Chair, and Sarah Olson. GCNJSpecial Award/Large Club 2023 National Garden Club Arts & Flowers earned the National Garden Club's Flower Show Achievement Award, Certificate of Merit for a Standard Flower Show with a score of 98.5 out of a possible 100. Evaluators stated that the show was "spectacular" and "showcased the talent in design." Top Exhibitor Awards included: Award of Design Excellence: Michele Tomasik Tricolor Award: Michele Tomasik Designer's Choice Award: Tova Narrett Petite Award: Celia Radek Botanical Arts Design Award: Cynthia Corhan-Aitken Educational Award: Celia Radek Recognition Award: Sarah J. Olson Garden Club of New Jersey Mrs. David L. George Silver Cup: Finest judged Standad Flower Show 23-23 Garden Club RFD Trophy: Finest Standard Flower Show Schedule of 2022 Dorothy M. Schick Trophy: Excellence in stating a Standard Flower Show Myra Brooks Memorial Trophy - Creativity in Flower Arranging : Tova Narrett Paricia Grossi Petite Award Trophy: Celia Radek Mrs. Reginald Wilson Memorial Award: Michele Tomasik Garden Club of Montclair President’s Special Recognition Award : Sue Young 2021 National Garden Clubs, Inc. Yearbook 2020-21 — Award application by Celia Radek, Editor. Certificate of Commendation First Place YB-1 Yearbooks (100-299 members). Score 100% Virtual Flower Design Education 2021 — Award application by Workshop Chair, Floss O'Sullivan, Florence Leyssène, and Sarah Stransky. Certificate of Merit First Place and Overall Winner Award FD-2 (Aiv). Floral Design Program/Single Club Garden Club of New Jersey Yearbook 2021-21 — Award application by Celia Radek, Editor Certificate of Merit with Gold Seal YB-1 Yearbooks (100-299 members) Garden Therapy 2021 — Award application by Garden Therapy Chair, Sarah Olson, and Sarah Stransky. Myra Brooks Garden Therapy Trophy #15a Renovated Garden Therapy Program

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Our Mission The Garden Club of Montclair educates Members and the public in their knowledge and practice of conservation, horticulture, and the artistic use of plant material. We work to beautify the Township of Montclair and the State of New Jersey. The Club sponsors and supports projects of an educational character, specifically allied to these purposes, and fosters fellowship through its work and its social activities. Club Member Benefits Programs : Members and their friends enjoy renowned speakers, authors, and experts on notable gardens, original flower design techniques, pollinator cultivation, and community outreach through gardening. Workshops : Members and Provisionals have the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience in Horticulture, Floral Design, and Botanical Arts by attending these workshops. Members and Provisionals only, unless indicated otherwise. Materials fees may apply. Avis Campbell Gardens and Grounds : Located at 60 S. Fullerton Avenue in Montclair, Avis Campbell Gardens is maintained by Club Members and is a beautiful space open to the public. Learn from our masterful gardeners and get hands-on experience. Community Outreach via Garden Therapy, Triangle Gardens, and Youth Organizations : Opportunities abound to beautify our town by planting at Church Street and sharing flower design/gardening techniques with charitable organizations. Help harvest at Avis Campbell Gardens to create Thanksgiving arrangements for Toni's Kitchen and other food pantry clients. Members partner with Scouts and schoolchildren in garden related activities. Open Gardens : Serving as a connection among our Membership, Open Gardens provides an opportunity to share knowledge and creativity. With friends included, these periodic social gatherings continue to expand in popularity and serve as outreach to our community. Garden Boutique : The Garden Boutique offers unique flower arranging, gardening, and related items for sale. Holiday Tea, Annual Awards Celebration, Clip, Dip & Sip in ACG : Enjoy social gatherings that build camaraderie among Members, share successes and experiences with one another, and appreciate floral displays and our beautiful gardens. 2024 -2025 Fees and Annual Dues Active Member : $100 Associate Member: $125 Non-Resident Member: $ 50 Provisional: $100 Emeritus: $0 Guest Fee: Donations welcome

Facilities Committee Reports Committees 2024-2025 — Karen Whitehaus, Chair The Club is grateful to have had access to its customary space on the lower level of 60 South Fullerton Avenue for most of this past year, while renovations continued in other parts of the building. During this time, Board Meetings and Committee Meetings were held either in the room connected to the Auditorium or the Garden View Room on the first floor, and Program Meetings were held either in the Auditorium or the Garden Club room on the lower level. The Club had been asked to share its space with the Township of Montclair’s Senior Group; that request appears to no longer be an expectation. The easily accessible storage room on the lower level was painted and new storage racks and containers were purchased. Avis Campbell Gardens continue to thrive and allow easy access to the compost area and two storage sheds immediately adjacent to the parking area. 2024-2025 Committee: Deborah Hirsch, Christine James 2023-2024 — Kate Khachaturian, Chair The Garden Club of Montclair held its monthly program meetings at the Bnai Keshet synagogue on South Fullerton Avenue. Monthly board meetings were held in the first floor Garden View room at 60 South Fullerton Avenue in Montclair. The downstairs Garden Club room was occasionally used for workshops and to store different items for Flower Design, Horticulture, and Botanical Arts committees. The building has been sold to a new owner, Placek Family Foundation. We have been assured that at some point in the future we will be able to return to the building. Renovations have begun; however, it is unclear as to when we will be able to move back in. 2022-2023 — Kate Khachaturian, Chair The Garden Club of Montclair was pleased to consistently meet in person again throughout 2022-2023. Our Club continued to hold Program meetings at Union Congregational Church in Upper Montclair. The members seemed pleased with its adequate space for Floral Design, Horticulture entries, our new Botanical Arts category, and our usual tea and refreshments. Board meetings were held in the Garden View Room on the first floor at 60 S. Fullerton Ave. in Montclair. We continue to use the Garden Club Room in the basement for Workshops and if weather permits, Avis Campbell Gardens. Clarence Booker now maintains our space and cleans when necessary. 2021-2022 — Kate Khachaturian, Chair In 2021-22, The Garden Club of Montclair continued to hold both Board meetings and Program meetings via zoom due to COVID-19. In early 2022, we began holding workshops at 60 South Fullerton in the Garden Club room. In the spring of 2022, we held two program meetings at Union Congregational Church. The annual awards luncheon was held in Avis Campbell Gardens. For the upcoming year of 2022-23, our meeting place will likely be determined by the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Club continues to thrive despite these difficult conditions. 2020-2021 — Kate Khachaturian, Chair In the year 2020–21 the COVID pandemic continued to rage. Consequently, all Garden Cub meetings were held via Zoom. We were fortunate on May 26 to hold our Annual Awards Meeting in the Avis Campbell Gardens. Due to on-site construction of the United Way building, we will continue in the to hold our meetings via Zoom. We hope to resume our meetings in the Garden Club room in 2022. 2019-2020 — Kate Khachaturian, Chair To say this year has been unusual and challenging would be an understatement. We began the year holding our meetings at Van Vleck House and Gardens due to the fact that the United Way Building was anticipating major renovations. We are very grateful to Van Vleck for its gracious hospitality. In the beginning of 2020,Covid-19 decided to pay a visit to the US and in March required a mandated lockdown. For the rest of the spring all events and Programs were canceled. Board meetings were conducted via Zoom. Thank goodness for technology! Because Workshops were still being conducted in the fall of 2019, the Facilities Committee did maintain the Garden Club room. I wish to thank my Facilities Committee members, Susan Straten and Janice Benton, and the Club Membership for their patience during this difficult time.

Crane House For many years, members have decorated The Crane House and Historic YWCA for the holidays, using only the ornaments, trimmings and garlands the original 18th-Century owners Israel and Fanny Crane would have would have recognized. Watch the video, below, for a virtual holiday tour. In 2020 the Crane House landed in 4th place in USA Today’s 10 Best Historic Home Tours , thanks to the efforts of the Garden Club of Montclair. See also the article in the Montclair Local . The photos of 2021's decorating extravaganza show how we are ready to win again. Thank you to everyone involved in keeping this beloved tradition alive. What an amazing way to end each year.

Awards Committee Reports Committees See also the full list of GCM awardees and other awards since 1980. Earlier awards are listed in Yearbooks dating back to 1951. 2024-2025 — Sarah Stransky, Chair Many thanks to our dedicated Awards Committee—Fran Ackerly, Deb Hirsch, Floss O’Sullivan, Suzy Straten, and President Sarah Olson—who handled unexpected changes with grace. After much thought, the Committee retired the tradition of hand engraving the Silver Awards, as our longtime engraver passed away and the craft faded. At the May 22, Awards Meeting and Luncheon, 2024–25 Silver Award winners received certificates, and their Silver Awards were loaned to them, as usual. Also at the Luncheon, engraved glass trophies for special recognition were presented to Jacquelin McMullen (55 years) and Brenda Bingham (50 years), along with community partners The Montclair Foundation and the Placek Foundation. Our new crowd favorite, the just-for-fun “Bloomies,” was a festive closer. Although we didn’t win an award this year, we proudly submitted applications to the GCNJ and NGC, often honoring us in the past. 2024-2025 Committee : Fran Ackerly, Deborah Hirsch, Floss O'Sullivan, Susan Straten, Kate Khachaturian 2023-2024 — Deborah Hirsch, Chair Thank you to the Awards team of Floss O’Sullivan, Kate Khachaturian, Celia Radek, Maureen Sprong and Florence Leyssène. Your collective knowledge, wit, compassion and attention to detail were so important to the process. And thanks, too, to Sarah Olson for attending our meetings. As of this writing we are waiting on the State, CAR, and National Clubs for responses to our five applications. We are delighted to announce the following GCNJ award: Certificate of Merit with Gold Seal for our Yearbook 2023-2024. Award Application: Floss O’Sullivan, editor in chief of the Yearbook.. The Garden Club of Montclair Awards were distributed at the Glen Ridge Country Club on May 30, 2024. We introduced a new category, The Bloomies , to recognize many unsung heroes who stepped in to make a difference during the year. Emeritus Awards 2024: Susan Straten, Gretchen Prater, and Barbara Meyer The Till Beatty Allis Award 2024: Deborah Moran The Bauer Horticulture Award 2024: Karen Whitehaus The Louise D. Mann Award 2024: Sue Young 2022-2023 — Celia Radek, Chair Ribbons, rosettes, and silver. This was a very full awards year that included a Flower Show and competitions in Horticulture, Flower Design, and Botanical Arts at monthly meetings. The Club inaugurated a new award in the Botanical Arts Division, joining top point-scored honors in other categories. Thanks to Susan Straten for her gift of the silver bowl for this new award. Silver bowl perpetual trophies earned at the Arts & Flowers : A Design Specialty Flower Show were among the Club awards and special tributes presented at the Annual Meeting in May. The President's Award for Horticulture —Sarah J. Olson The Amy Hatrak Herb Award —Denise Silverman The Barbara Meyer Rose Award —Denise Silverman The Estelle Leibrecht Horticulture Award —Debbie Moran The Bauer Horticulture Award —Maureen Sprong The President's Trophy for Flower Design, lntermed .—Sarah J. Olson The Garden Club Award for Flower Design, Adv .—Barbara Baletti The Kay Maclane Van Deusen Rose Award —Fran Ackerly The Betty B. Merriam Silver Bowl —Debbie Moran The Barbara Slockbower Schaeberle Award —Tova Narrett The Botanical Arts Award —Floss O'Sullivan The Till Beatty Allis Award —Fran Ackerly The Louise D. Mann Award —Deborah Hirsch Special Tributes —Susan Benner, Marilyn & Peter Zaret 2023 President's Special Recognition Award —Sue Young Congratulations to the Yearbook Committee and Editor Floss O'Sullivan for the Garden Club of New Jersey Certificate of Merit for Yearbook 2022-23. Many more GCNJ and NGC Awards are detailed in the report on Arts & Flowers : A Design Specialty Flower Show . With appreciation to the 2022-23 Awards Committee members: Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Florence Leyssène, Sarah J. Olson, Maureen Sprong, and Sarah Stransky, ex officio. 2021-2022 — Sarah Stransky, Chair The Awards Committee is to be applauded for their work on GCM Awards and active participation in National and State Award/Grant applications writing. Many thanks to Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Sarah Olson, Celia Radek, and Fran Wong. We also appreciated the guidance of the GCNJ Awards Chair, Peggy Morrissey, who helped facilitate our application process. We are delighted to announce the following GCNJ Awards: Certificate of Merit with Gold Seal 1st Place YB-1 Yearbook 2021-22 (100-299 members). Award application by Editor, Claire Stepleton. Score 100%. Hanover Garden Club Trophy for outstanding innovative project: Website 2021-22. Award application by Sue Young, 1st Vice President and Website Webmaster, and Sarah Stransky. GCNJ Special Award/Large Club for Triangle Gardens (a Civic Beautification project since 1952). Award application by Susan Yu, Triangle Gardens Chair, and Sarah Olson. The Garden Club of Montclair Awards were given at the Annual Meeting held at Avis Campbell Gardens on May 25, 2022, with the help of the Properties Chair, Nancy Stroud, Membership Chairs, Deborah Hirsch and Cheryl Slutzky, the Awards Committee, and Marilyn and Peter Zaret, who set up and dismantled chairs and tables for the event. The venue location was revised to be outdoors because of a recent outbreak of COVID-19. Emeritus Award 2022 - Brenda Bingham. Dedication to GCM, GCNJ, and NGC through focus on flower design since 1975. Tribute 2022 - Sue Young . Webmaster/renovator of current website. The Till Beatty Allis Award 2022 – Floss O’Sullivan . Flower Design Education through the creation of virtual workshops and exhibitions. The Louise D. Mann Award 2022 - Sarah Olson . Garden Therapy development and expansion of programs involving many more Members and reaching out to more people facing personal challenges in our communities. 2020-2021 — Sarah Stransky, Chair Many thanks to the 2020-21 Awards Committee including Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Karen Kadus, Kate Khachaturian, Michele Tomasik, and Fran Wong for their Zoom input, and collection and cleaning of the silver awards. Special thanks to Michele Tomasik for her assistance writing and editing several of the Emeritus and Tribute Awards. We also appreciate the support of GCNJ Awards Chair, Peggy Morrissey, whose guidance facilitated our state and national award application processes. We are thrilled to announce these GCNJ and NGC Awards received in June 2021 for outstanding achievements in 2020 during the pandemic: Yearbook 2020-21 — Award application by Celia Radek, Editor. Score 100%. Certificate of Commendation First Place YB-1 Yearbooks (100-299 members) awarded by National Garden Clubs, Inc. Certificate of Merit with Gold Seal YB-1 Yearbooks (100-299 members) awarded by Garden Club of New Jersey. Virtual Flower Design Education 2021 — Award application by Workshop Chair, Floss O'Sullivan, Florence Leyssène, and Sarah Stransky. Certificate of Merit First Place and Overall Winner Award FD-2 (Aiv) Floral Design Program/Single Club awarded by National Garden Clubs, Inc. Garden Therapy 2021 — Award application by Garden Therapy Chair, Sarah Olson, and Sarah Stransky. Myra Brooks Garden Therapy Trophy #15a Renovated Garden Therapy Program awarded by the Garden Club of New Jersey. The Garden Club of Montclair Awards were given at the 2020-21 Annual Meeting held in Avis Campbell Gardens on May 26 with the help of the Hospitality, Properties, Membership, and Avis Campbell Gardens Committees. A celebration for Connie Young’s 100 birthday was an important part of the agenda! The Bauer Horticulture Award 2021 — Debbie Moran The Louise D. Mann Award 2021 — Floss O’Sullivan The Till Beatty Allis Award 2021 — Florence Leyssène Tributes — Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Sandy Sorkin, Karen Whitehaus, Fran Wong Emeritus Award Members 2021 — Bonni Babson, Betty Ann Cannell, Chris Cowles, Firth Fabend, Joan Larkin, Mary McGeown, Fritzi Mills, C.Y. Treene. 2019-2020 — Sarah Stransky, Chair T he 2019-2020 Awards Program, held annually in May, was postponed until fall of 2020. Because we have chosen to honor the recipients in a timely fashion, it is with great pleasure that we announce the following 2019-2020 awards: The President's Award for Horticulture — Denise Silverman The Amy Hatrak Herb Award — Denise Silverman The Bauer Horticulture Award — Maureen Sprong The Elsie Bristol Novice Award — Ginny Demoreuille The Garden Club Award for Flower Design, Advanced — Fran Ackerly The Kay Maclane Van Deusen Rose Award — Sarah J. Olson The Louise D. Mann Award — Claire Stepleton Special Tributes — Sarah J. Olson and Floss O'Sullivan All Awards will be presented at the Awards Program in the fall of 2020. The Awards Committee congratulates the above listed, and all our members, as you further our purposes of Education, Beautification, and Fellowship! And a big Thank You to the 2019-2020 members of the Awards Committee: Fran Ackerly, Karen Kadus, Kate Khachaturian, and Michele Tomasik.

The Garden Club of Montclair is dedicated to sharing knowledge and practice of conservation, horticulture, and the artistic use of plant material. We beautify the Township of Montclair and sponsor and support projects in the schools of our town. And, not least, we foster fellowship and friendship through our work and our social activities. Events & Festivities We’re celebrating our anniversary with events throughout the year. Check back often because, as you can see, event details are still developing. Our full Calendar with these and all other Club activities is always available HERE . February 2 1:00pm Anniversary Kickoff. The celebration gets underway with a delicious tower of 100 mini cupcakes at the January Program meeting February 11 6:00pm Club President Fran Ackerly, in partnership with the Adult School at the main branch of the Public Library, leads a flower design demonstration in time for Galentine's Day. March 17 1:00pm Club Member Karen Fricke will present “An Introduction to Native Gardens” at the Montclair Library Bellevue Branch. April 27 6:00pm Our gala 100-Year Brithday Party for Members and spouses/ partners takes place at the Montclair Art Museum. Offering small bites, libations, and fun with our friends, the event will include a viewing of a movie highlighting the impact of GCM over the decades, currently being filmed. May 13-17 All day While participating in Montclair Art Museum’s biennial celebration of floral design “ Art in Bloom” is a Garden Club mainstay, this year our Club will be one of the honorees at the MAM's spring benefit luncheon on May 14. A video presentation featuring the contributions of Julia Berrall and Howard Van Vleck will be featured throughout at the event. June Two guided tours of Avis Campbell Gardens will be offered to the public scheduled to coincide with peak rose bloom in summer and the great array of dahlia varieties blooming in fall. Dates to be determined. September 24-27 The Club will be presenting an NGC Standard Flower Show at Van Vleck House & Gardens entitled "A Century in Bloom." All our Members will be involved in creating the event to showcase Flower Design, Horticulture and more, under the leadership of Club Members Sarah Stransky and Karen Fricke. October In partnership with the NJ Tree Foundation, we will be planting ten trees in Montclair, one for each year of our existence. The location and date of planting of these trees has not yet been finalized. December Our celebratory year will come to a triumphant close at our annual Holiday Tea. The date has not yet been determined.

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Communications Committee Reports Committees Email reports are included by year, below. See also Potpourri editions and committee reports . 2024-2025 — Sue Young, Chair Over the past few years, the Communications team has focused on strengthening our website as both a digital archive of our Club’s history and the primary way we share current news with members. This year, to improve email delivery and avoid spam filters used by major providers, we successfully transitioned to a commercial email platform as our main method of sharing news while maintaining the website as a permanent record. We’ve also expanded into social media—thanks to the outstanding efforts of Amy South and Tracy Reilly —allowing us to connect with the broader community and attract new members. This was also the first year we offered an online printable PDF Yearbook, replacing the printed version we’ve used since 1950. Looking ahead, we’re developing systems to support Club Committees with their communications as they plan projects for our 100th Anniversary. 2024-2025 Committee : Janice Benton, Terri Breen, Karen DeLuca, Deborah Hirsch, Christine James, Floss O'Sullivan, Tracy Reilly, Ragna Sloane, Maryellen Stadtlander, Amy South, Karen Whitehaus, Fran Wong, Allyn Young. 2023-2024 — Sue Young, Chair We went a long way this year to achieving our goal of documenting all our activities on the website in words and photos. This would not have been possible without the amazing talents of the whole Communications committee, and of course our amazing photographers: Susan Yu, Barbara Baletti, Nancy Stroud and all the members who brought the activities of their committees to the whole membership. We have many plans for the new year, the most momentous of which is the transfer of the Yearbook to an online version with a shortened, printable PDF of the most popular sections. We are proud of our members who voted overwhelmingly to take advantage of the digital world and save the significant cost of printing the Yearbook. We will also be using “In the News” rather than traditional emails to notify members of upcoming events. And we plan to reach out more to the community through social media, attracting more visitors to our programs, and more members to our Club. Finally, our website address will change from https://gardenclubofmontclair.COM to https://gardenclubofmontclair.ORG (more appropriate for our non-profit status) and our email address will change to info@gardenclubofmontclair.org . After several years of a multi-pronged communication approach the board made the decision to consolidate communications to one source of communication which will be the website "In the News" emails. Potpourri and all announcements will come from our website address. Many, many thanks to Fran Wong who has managed the emails coming into and out of the Club for so long and who we are sure will continue to contribute her technical expertise to the committee and our members for many years to come. 2022-2023 — Sue Young, Chair This year we made a good start on our plan to record all our activities on the website. Seventy-five people have signed up to have these stories delivered to their inboxes the moment they are published. So far no one has asked to cancel! We are also using the website to collect dues and fees online, which is a big help to the Finance Chair. Over 100 Club Members have now signed up to use these options! None of this would have been possible without the photos and event accounts contributed by our members. Please everyone, keep them coming! In particular, many thanks to Susan Yu for her glorious pictures. I would also like to thank Floss O'Sullivan for her meticulous documenting of the competition entries, her videos that add so much to our workshops, and her quiet maintenance of the ever-changing calendar. Next year our committee will look at how to publicize our activities, so Montclair gets to know us better — and learn where the Avis Campbell Gardens are located! Email — Fran Wong Weekly email updates to Club Members, known as "e-blasts" are an important part of our Communications strategy. More than 50 email updates a year are delivered to the entire Membership on Wednesday mornings ranging from notifications of upcoming events, calls for volunteers, or Members who have passed. These year-round emails help drive attendance at Programs, Workshops, and Garden Therapy events, and help Members stay connected over the summer. With the website's "In the News" alerts, these weekly e-blasts, and the Potpourri newsletter published eight times a year, this three-tiered strategy helps keep members reminded, engaged, and up to date. If you want something sent to the Membership please submit it as you would like it to appear in a .doc file attachment to fewong@comcast.net. Photos should be sent as a separate JPG file. While PDF files can be sent, they will almost always be delivered as an attachment. The deadline for a given week is Monday at 11:59 pm, but emergencies can be accommodated as appropriate. 2021-2022 — Sue Young, Chair Thanks to the dedication of our previous creative Communications Chair, Amy South, and our technologically gifted President, Florence Leyssène, we can report that the Club flourished during COVID-19, thanks to the electronic tools of Zoom, email, the new website, and the extraordinary skills of our photographers: Barbara Baletti, Victoria Herrera, Wendy Stahl, Claire Stepleton, Michele Tomasik, Susan Yu, and many others. Early this year, like Punxsutawney Phil, we emerged cautiously from our lockdown to meet again for multiple events and to record these get-togethers on our new website. This website, which won the GCNJ's Hanover Garden Club Trophy (presented to a member club "for a successful, innovative project of merit that does not apply for an award under any other category") marks a new addition to our communication arsenal. As well as our informative weekly email (thank you Fran Wong!), and our rich and illuminating Potpourri (thank you Terri Breen, Claire Stepleton and Karen Whitehaus!), we have added many new features to our website, including last year's entire Yearbook. Our goal has been to make it easy for all our Members with varying levels of social media experience to: view the site on a phone or a laptop; access a constantly updated calendar; use a searchable directory of all Members, from Active to Provisionals to Emeriti; receive immediate posts about anything and everything in their email inboxes as events happen; browse through two years of committee reports; keep up with changing information about workshops and programs; watch sophisticated how-to videos (thank you Debbie Moran, Florence Leyssène, and Floss O'Sullivan!); enjoy slideshows and galleries of shared events; check out all award winners back to 1987 (soon to stretch to our founding in 1926); and feel comfortable that security has been upgraded to the highest level. Use of the site has been growing throughout the year, and we want all our Members to feel that our electronic forms of communication add to our central tenets of Education, Beautification, and Fellowship. Email — Fran Wong Even through the COVID-19 pandemic, The Garden Club of Montclair has worked hard to maintain an active calendar and keep its Members engaged. This necessitates adequate communication in order to be successful. Given the need to be flexible during the ever-changing challenges of maintaining the activities of the Club during the pandemic, weekly emails have become essential to keep the membership informed and up to date. Whenever possible, articles and notices are congregated to avoid encouraging a common habit of ignoring email due to high volume. Attractive stationery is used to bring attention to the content. When we send information, we want Members to read it! Every effort is made to make sure current email addresses are maintained and undelivered email is investigated and resent. Membership cooperation in notifying the Club of changes is always appreciated and is critical to the mission. Unfortunately, some Members have recently experienced delivery failures for unknown reasons. Some have found Club emails in their spam folders, but others have been unable to determine the problem. Members should expect a weekly update email between September 1 and June 1 and check their spam folder if necessary. Problems should be reported to the Club email address: gardenclubofmontclair@yahoo.com. Emails are sent on an as-requested basis during the summer months. Finally, incoming emails to the Club email address were distributed to the appropriate individuals for their action. 2020-2021 — Amy South, Chair Traditionally, Communications reports on current and future Club activities but because of COVID, we were re-directed to design a process to share individual photos for competitions anonymously. We also worked closely with Workshops to help share communications regarding workshops and fabulous videos produced by Floss O’Sullivan, Florence Leyssène, and others. Floss O’Sullivan also created an invaluable step-by-step video tutorial on completing an entry form. I am so impressed by the energy and dedication of those who continued to create magic in Avis Campbell Gardens, the Triangle Gardens, Garden Therapy, Workshops, Programs, Youth, Open Gardens and more! Additionally, thanks to Deborah Hirsch, we were able to grow our Membership during a year of lockdown. Special thanks to the photographers who jumped in and shared photos: Barbara Baletti, Claire Stepleton, Susan Yu, Marilyn Zaret, Michele Tomasik, and others. My successor, Sue Young, helped us work around the frustrating challenge of an “absent webmaster” to post on our website a new dues renewal form with a Paypal link. She is very experienced with website design and her determination and wit will surely benefit the Club. It has been my pleasure to transition Sue and I look forward to staying on the Committee to help with the website rebuild. Recently, at the request of the Ways and Means Committee, we added a 'DONATE' button that will hopefully catch the attention of website visitors — more to come! Thanks to Celia Radek for supplying Yearbook content for the annual website update. Thank you to our President, Florence Leyssène, for her knowledge and leadership during this challenging period. Her knowledge and experience, coupled with a kind heart, have helped make all we do possible. I am thankful for this amazing organization and feel inspired by the talents, energy, and dedication of our members. My heart is exceptionally heavy when I reflect on the many losses and hardships this past year but my mind is bright with the future of our extraordinary Club. Thank you to all — it is my honor to have served as your Communications Chair and I confidently pass the baton to Sue Young. Email — Fran Wong The Club is fortunate to have a robust calendar and Active membership and this necessitates adequate communication in order to be successful. Given the need to be flexible during the ever changing challenges of maintaining the activities of the Club during the pandemic, weekly e-mails were instituted to keep the membership informed and up-to-date. Whenever possible, articles and notices were congregated to avoid encouraging a common habit of ignoring email due to high volume. Appealing stationary is used to attract attention to the content. When we send it we want members to read it! Email notices and reminders have become essential to keeping the membership informed and engaged. Every attempt is made to make sure current addresses are maintained and undelivered email is investigated and resent. Membership cooperation in notifying the Club of changes is always appreciated and is critical to the mission. Finally, incoming messages to the Club email address were distributed to the appropriate individuals for their action. 2019-2020 — Amy South, Chair Communications has continued to report to local papers, publications and social media regarding both our future activities and our accomplishments. lnstagram continues to be a very useful tool to spread word about events and highlight our accomplishments. We continue to use Smugmug for photo storage. I would like to thank Susan Yu, Marilyn Zaret, Susan Straten, Michele Tomasik, Barbara Baletti, and Victoria Herrera for helping cover photographing events. Claire Stepleton continues to provide wonderful, consistent support with photography and tech related questions. The temporary transition to Van Vleck for some of our events this year went smoothly in the communications arena. Attendance was strong for the fabulous Programs which might suggest that the publicity with the Montclair Local , Montclair Times , Baristanet , and Facebook was helpful. We supported some of our partners with advertisements in publications (Montclair Art Museum, Van Vleck, and 'May in Montclair'). Unfortunately, the pandemic brought a halt to all events (March -June) but we did submit a 1/8 page ad to the ·"We Care" section of the Montclair Local in support of the community and "May in Montclair". The website requires a considerable amount of time to be updated and I appreciate all the assistance provided by Claire Stepleton. We will continue to share interactive forms (dues and Annual Luncheon responses) and to take payment on line via credit cards (with a nominal fee) through the website. Some future goals are to increase Membership engagement with the website and to work with Claire Stepleton to update the History and Award information. Thanks to Celia Radek for supplying Yearbook content for the annual website update. This year was exceptionally complicated by Covid-19 and our temporary move to Van Vleck. I am thankful to Florence Leyssène for her knowledge and leadership as President during these challenges and I look forward to another year as Communications/Publicity VP. I am thankful for my Membership and feel inspired by the talents, energy, and dedication of Garden Club members. Email — Fran Wong The Club is fortunate to have a robust calendar and active Membership and this necessitates adequate communication in order to be successful. At least two blast emails were sent each month during the year. Whenever possible, articles and notices were congregated to avoid encouraging a common habit of ignoring email due to high volume. Attractive stationery is used to attract attention to the content. When we send it we want members to read it! Special invitations such as that to the Holiday Tea were also sent. Email notices and reminders have become essential to keeping the Membership informed and engaged. Every attempt is made to make sure current addresses are maintained and undelivered email investigated and re-sent. Membership cooperation in notifying the Club of changes is always appreciated and is critical to the mission. Finally, incoming emails to the Club were distributed to the appropriate individuals and Committee Chairs for their action.

Potpourri Committee Reports Committees 2023-2024 — Terri Breen, Editor The eight issues of Potpourri, published this year, documented and celebrated our members’ successes and achievements, community service contributions and educational events. Potpourri also serves as our Club’s historical archive, recording Flower Design, Horticulture, and Botanical Arts achievements and awards. Most of our members receive a full-color newsletter via email, while approximately 20 members receive a black-and-white hardcopy by mail. The emailed version includes links that allow members to connect directly to information on our website and other informative sites. I consider myself fortunate to have the assistance of several very special women. Thank you, Marilyn Zaret for picking up (from the printer), labeling, and mailing Potpourri to our hard copy members’ list every month. Thank you to Barbara Baletti for her creative editorial contributions. And a special thanks to Fran Wong, who oversees the monthly email blasts of Potpourri and has also patiently helped me navigate thorny tech issues. 2022-2023 — Terri Breen, Editor The eight issues of Potpourri published this year documented and celebrated our Membership's successes and achievements, our community service contributions, and our educational events. Potpourri also serves as our Club's historical archive by documenting Flower Design, Horticulture, and Botanical Arts results and awards. The majority of our Members receive a full-color newsletter via email, while approximately twenty members receive a mailed hardcopy in black and white. Via links in our emailed version, Members can connect directly to information on our website and other informative websites. I consider myself fortunate to have the assistance of some very special women. Thank you to Marilyn Zaret for picking up, labeling, and mailing Potpourri to our hardcopy list every month. Thank you to Barbara Baletti for her creative editorial contributions. This year, Barbara created a new fun and upbeat "column" called Grapevine that we hope to expand next year. Finally, special thanks to Fran Wong who not only oversees the monthly email blasts of Potpourri, but has patiently helped me through some thorny technical issues. 2021-2022 — Terri Breen, Editor; Claire Stepleton, Karen Whitehaus, Co-Editors Potpourri provides the Club's membership with information on upcoming events including outings, workshops, programs, community service activities, and celebrations. It serves as the Club's historical archive by documenting flower design and horticulture results, awards, and events. We make the newsletter colorful and interesting with photos that illustrate the talent, hard work, and successes of our membership. To keep Potpourri fresh and informative, Members are encouraged to provide feedback, suggestions, and always-photos! With pandemic restrictions this year, Potpourri was an important way to communicate meeting and location changes to our membership. Eight issues of Potpourri were published this year with December-January and May-June combined into one issue. Most Members receive the newsletter via email. Currently, 28 Members receive hardcopy. Special thanks to Marilyn Zaret for picking up, labeling, and mailing Potpourri to our hardcopy list. The newsletter is also available in the protected section of our website at: gardenclubofmontclair.com/potpourri . Please email Sue Young to obtain access. Terri Breen will resume her position as Potpourri Editor next year. Good luck, Terri! 2020-2021 — Terri Breen, Editor For 2020-2021, seven issues of Potpourri were published. The majority of issues were sent to our Membership via email and 28 copies were sent snail mail. This was a decrease from prior years resulting in a savings in our printing and postage costs. As a Committee, we decided to change the deadline for articles due from the 1st of the month to the 15th of the month. Committee chairs will see this change in the new Yearbook calendar. I would like to thank Committee members Marilyn Zaret, who has been responsible for our monthly mailing, and Karen Whitehaus for meticulously proofreading and correcting my initial drafts. It has been a pleasure working with these women. 2019-2020 — Debbie Moran, Chair Potpourri provides the Garden Club of Montclair Membership with information about upcoming events including outings, Workshops, Programs, community service activities, and celebrations. It also serves as the Club's historical archive by documenting Flower Design and Horticulture Competition results, awards, and event recaps. We try to make the newsletter colorful and interesting with photos that illustrate the talent, hard work, and successes of our Membership. We constantly strive to enhance Potpourri so members are invited to provide feedback and suggestions to keep it new and informative. Seven issues of Potpourri were published during the Program year with December-February combined into one issue and May-June into one issue. The Newsletter was an especially valuable communication tool this year during the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in the cancellation of most Club activities after mid-March. Most members receive the Newsletter via email. Currently, 29 members receive hardcopy via US mail. Special thanks go to Karen Whitehaus for proofreading every issue and to Marilyn Zaret for picking up, labeling, and mailing Potpourri to our hardcopy list. The Newsletter is also available for viewing and download on this website . It's been a great honor to be the editor of Potpourri the last two years. We are so fortunate to have Terri Breen taking the helm; I know she will enjoy the "job" as much as I did! Welcome, Terri!

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< Back How technology can help curb attention disorders Sarah Jones Mar 19, 2023 This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Previous Next

Flower Design Committee Reports Committees 2024-2025 — Barbara Baletti, Chair; Floss O’Sullivan, Vice Chair We experienced an innovative and diverse Flower Design year which was quite successful. We eliminated the use of green floral foam and challenged our designers to utilize alternative techniques in their creations. We maintained a focus on the basic design types for Provisionals and Novices as they continue to learn the importance of the Principles and Elements of Design. We introduced new challenges for our Intermediates to test their skills with Petite, Multi-rhythmic and Creative designs. Our Advanced and Advanced Plus designers did amazing work with Abstract, Transparency, Tapestry, and Armature designs, just to name a few. The move into more difficult and challenging designs would not have been possible without the technical advice and assistance of our resident accredited judges, Florence Leyssène, Debbie Moran, and Brenda Bingham. We exhibited 87 floral designs in our competitions this year, 16 for our Holiday Tea and 15 for our Awards Luncheon. This speaks to a vibrant group of designers who love what they do, and a Club membership that appreciates and enjoys it all. Special thanks to Floss O’Sullivan, my Vice Chair, for her invaluable assistance and expertise. 2024-2025 Committee : Susan Brady, Carol Callahan, Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Karen Fricke, Florence Leyssène, Tova Narrett, Debbie Moran, Amy Poster, Michele Quinn, Cheryl Slutzky, Sarah Stransky. 2023-2024 — Fran Ackerly, Chair; Barbara Baletti, Vice Chair In keeping with one purpose of the Garden Club of Montclair, education, the Flower Design committee chose to go “back to basics” this year. In September, a two-part workshop was given exploring the principles and elements of design and how to apply them in creating a flower design. Later in the year, a point-scoring workshop was held to show how flower designs are judged in a competition or flower show. Trial Run was brought back which gave designers an opportunity to do a design new to them to be critiqued only. Thanks to our member NGC judges, the Invitational showcased more advanced designs as examples of what was ahead on the design schedule. Thank you to each member of the committee for her valuable contributions in planning this year, to Barbara Baletti who was there every step of the way, and to the 28 designers who participated by exhibiting 64 designs this year. 2022-2023 — Fran Ackerly, Chair; Barbara Baletti, Vice Chair It was an exciting year for Flower Design. Inspired by the success of our award-winning flower show, Arts & Flowers : A Design Specialty Flower Show, the committee made some changes to the design schedule for monthly competitions. The format was altered to follow the schedule of an actual flower show, allowing Members more freedom in choosing a design class and type. New workshops were offered, interesting challenges in Flower Design were introduced, and Botanical Arts made its debut. Members enjoyed the new opportunities, and Club competitions were replete with decorated hats and boxes, dazzling masks, and necklaces. These new additions were enthusiastically embraced by designers. We exhibited fifty-two Flower Designs and twenty-five Botanical Arts designs in five competitions this year. To educate new Members and increase participation in Flower Design, we are going "back to basics," returning to our original flower design format. Botanical Arts will become a separate division and have its own committee. 2021-2022 — Fran Ackerly, Chair; Barbara Baletti, Vice Chair Concerns about COVID-19 had an impact on Flower Design events again this year. Virtual Design Exhibitions were held in October, November, January, and February. Designers took a photo of their flower design, attached the photo to the online entry form, and sent their entry to The Garden Club of Montclair 's website. The judges were able to view the design photos and add their comments. I want to thank our own judges, Florence Leyssène and Debbie Moran, for the countless hours they spent critiquing the designs each month, and Sue Young for putting each Exhibition on the website for Members to enjoy viewing. To everyone's delight, in March and April there was a return to inperson Design Competitions. March brought us lovely Petite Designs ranging in size from 3 inches to 12 inches. In April, designers rose to the challenge of a Multi-Rhythmic Design. I want to thank all designers for participating and for sharing their creativity and talent. This year, 28 designers entered a total of 72 flower designs. A thank you also must go to Barbara Baletti, Vice Chair of Flower Design, whose ideas, suggestions, and support were invaluable. Working together this year was great and Flower Design survived and thrived. 2020-2021 — Fran Ackerly, Chair; Barbara Baletti, Vice Chair Many things were different this year due to the pandemic and Flower Design was no exception. The monthly Flower Design Competitions became Virtual Design Exhibitions. Each month, designers took photos of their designs and submitted them electronically to the Club’s website. Once submitted, they were critiqued by our own member Judges and each designer was awarded one point for participation. No Flower Design awards were given this year. The aim was to keep members connected and involved during the difficult time of COVID-19. In all, 23 designers submitted a total of 95 designs. This success would not have been possible without the support of Vice-Chair Barbara Baletti, Flower Design Committee members, Workshops Chair Floss O'Sullivan, and the Communications Chair Amy South. Thank you to all. 2019-2020 — Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Fran Ackerly, Vice Chair This will serve as my last report as Chair of Flower Design as I pass the baton to Fran Ackerly and her Vice Chair Barbara Baletti. I have loved every minute of serving as Chair of this committee mainly due to the fact that I have always had an enthusiastic group of volunteers with whom to work. My sincerest thanks go to Fran Ackerly who served as my Vice Chair during my second term and took a huge weight off my shoulders by always being willing to help and advise. Much gratitude and many thanks go to Florence Leyssène and Debbie Moran for always being there to support me, answer my many questions and, in general, encourage me every step of the way. To my Flower Design Committee members: Barbara Baletti, Brenda Bingham. Joan Crowther, Firth Fabend, Sharla Blanz, Carol Callahan, Tova Narrett, Floss O'Sullivan, Michele Quinn, Sarah Stransky, and Marylin Zaret; you have all always been willing to help and have taken on the many tasks that go along with this Committee with willingness and grace. Most importantly, thank you to all the designers who have participated in our monthly Flower Design Competitions. Your creativity has never failed to impress and amaze me. Without you all there would be a lot less beauty in the world! This has been a difficult spring for everyone. Who could have predicted that the world would go into lockdown in March and that life as we know it would change so extremely? Sadly, we missed two competitions for Design and Botanical Arts in March and April and, of course, there was the cancellation of our Design Specialty Flower Show scheduled for September. I look forward to the day, hopefully in the not too distant future, when we will all be back together again doing the things we love and sharing it with all of our Garden Club friends.

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This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. < Back How technology can help curb attention disorders Sarah Jones Mar 19, 2023 This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Previous Next