Garden club uplifts environment, education with record funding

The Longboat Key Garden Club is celebrating Arbor Day with its annual distribution of organization grants and student scholarships, and it is going bigger than ever.

Members held the annual meeting on April 17 at Longboat Island Chapel, inviting the awardees to join and share how the funding will help them this year.

President Melanie Dale reviewed what has been an exciting year for the club, which started off the season by receiving the "Non-Profit of the Year Award" from the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce.

"That just got the ball rolling for us," she said.

The 15th Taste of the Keys was a record-setting year, with proceeds of $23,000.

Funds raised through the flagship event and all the other events go toward the club's grant and scholarship award winners celebrated that afternoon.

Altogether, the club budgeted $80,200 for awards and grants this year.

Student set to succeed

Last year, the club was proud to support student Annie Camille Haut with a $15,000 scholarship to finish out her senior year at the University of Florida, studying biotechnology and sustainability.

This year, through extensive outreach and networking efforts, organizers connected with more students, ultimately awarding a dozen scholarships.

Gretchen Burns, chair of the scholarship committee, announced the awards and recognized the five students who could attend that day.

This year's awardees are: Adam Goodman (Florida State University); Eli Myron (FSU); Deanne Mungle (University of Florida); Leah Diehl (UF); Laurel Field (FSU); Riley Bergmann (UF); Tori Guarino (UF); Carter Oleckna (UF); Alexis Demetropoulos (New College of Florida); Rebecca Juntunen (UF); Emma Jackson (FSU); and Kai Sanchez (University of Central Florida).

The students are pursuing a mix of doctoral, master's, and bachelor's degrees. 

Myron, the recipient of a $10,000 Charles T Bauer Charitable Foundation scholarship, is working toward a doctorate in studying coral reefs. He shared a deep appreciation for the award, saying it can be challenging to find significant funding sources as a first-year Ph.D. student in marine sciences.

"This award is going to help me hit the ground running, and I am extremely grateful for it," he said. "It's going to have a great impact on my field work and getting things started."

His area of study specifically focuses on sustainable coastal infrastructure development and artificial reefs.

Burns said the committee is thrilled to be reaching so many new students this year, hopefully having a ripple effect in future environmental conservation.

"Every little bit helps these students," she said. "A secondary education is so expensive, so anything we can do to help makes me feel good."

Fostering education

The other component to the garden club's annual awards is the grant presentation.

Linda Ulrich, head of the grant committee, invited representatives from the winning organizations to share how the funding boost will support their environmental projects and outreach.

This year's grants are funding: Mote Marine Laboratory's summer camp need-based scholarships, aquaponics in the classroom program, and veterans farming program; Marie Selby Botanical Garden's Camp Lookout and Set Sail with Selby programs; the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota DeSoto Counties Mote STEM-focused education summer program in-house; school gardens at St. Martha Catholic School, Southside Elementary School and the Dreamers Academy; Longboat Key Turtle Watch's Flip A Switch educational program; Save Our Seabirds' renovation of two bird enclosures; Florida Maritime Museum's native planting; and Cortez Village's native planting.

Ulrich said this year's awards include a mix of long-supported programs and cutting-edge projects, like the aquaponics program Mote is expanding.

Like the university students, the grade-school youngsters showed their appreciation to the garden club. Artistically inclined students made butterfly-shaped thank you cards, and those with a green thumb helped grow fresh produce featured at the luncheon.

"We appreciate how they learn through doing things hands-on," she said of the school gardens.

Those interested in applying for next year's awards can learn more about the criteria and how to apply at LBKGardenClub.org/Activities.