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November Magic - 11/14/21 Community Service Day

11/14/2021

 
The light and the air in mid-November have a special quality that is hard to put into any words, and our garden community of people also has a special quality of collaboration and kindness that is hard to put into words.  Tanya Starace caught this in her photos of our work day on Sunday November 14th. We saw so many Members and Associates who were able to be out helping. Four new Members received their plots . We had volunteers from La Scuola d'Italia in Manhattan and also from Roosevelt Island working alongside so many of all ages.  Take some time to enjoy these beautiful photos.

Volunteer Day on October 16!

11/4/2021

 
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Roosevelt Island neighbors and other visitors often ask how they can help out and get exercise alongside us in the gardens.  In October this year we reached out to some of those who have emailed or spoken up and they joined us alongside some teens out for service hours. We enjoyed a working morning of tool clean up, path repair, and compost materials prep. Thank you all! 
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NYC Pollinator Group Visits Wonderful Roosevelt Island Community Garden To Learn And Share Best Practices On Bees, Native Plants, Composting & More!

10/15/2021

 

Please read  and watch 
this post by The Roosevelt Islander  for much more information. 
We could not have been more excited to host passionate professionals from all around NYC for a visit and seed swap at the gardens on Friday afternoon October 15th:  Parks professionals, Landscapers, National Wildlife educators, Native plant enthusiasts, Arborists, Entomologists and more! Thank you so much Christina Delfico @iDig2Learn for organizing this social gathering for nature!

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RIGC Summer Potluck Picnic 2017

6/19/2017

 
On Saturday June 10, 2017 we held a garden club picnic under the cottonwood tree. David Nisthaus brought his record player and vinyl collection including 45 rpms and hosted us all in style. Sande Elinson created a get to know your neighbor (and your plot number) game with prizes, and we free raffled a food scrap container just for the fun of it (and to encourage composting!)

A generous spread of salad and pizza, pasta and sandwiches, homemade muffins and brownies kept us healthy and relaxed. Arlene Jacoby brought sugar coated chocolate covered rose petals! We also worked to reduce waste by bringing cutlery to wash after instead of adding plastic to landfill and by using our great water cooler instead of bottled water!  

​After the party David wrote:
"I want to thank all that participated in the picnic. It was tremendous success.  The food, drinks, music and good company was just amazing.  Thank you Sande and Julia for setting up the tables.  Everyone walked away with a full belly and new garden friendships."  This pretty much says it all!  Enjoy the pictures and send more in to rigardenclub@gmail.com if you have any! 


Honoring Ali as Past President

12/3/2016

 
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At the last Board Meeting for the 2016 year in late November, we were able to honor Dr. Ali Schwayri with a special paper weight for his many years of service and donation to the club.  One of the founding members of our group, Ali served as president from 1988-1989, 2000-2003, and 2014-2016 for 9-10 years.  Ali looks forward to keeping his garden and being present in the club. He still runs the Roosevelt Island Tree Board as well and is active with saving and advising RIOC for our many Island trees.
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Record Breaking Community Service for RIGC in 2016

11/1/2016

 
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Thanks to all for all you do!  We keep a beautiful garden growing for our Roosevelt Island community with thousands of volunteer hours combined.  

Neal Weissman, V.P., reported on the details of our 2016 service and recognized special categories at our meeting on Sunday evening, October, 30, 2016.


​Our full membership put in over 1,458 hours of collective community service. This averages to 11 hrs/plot. Of our 132 plots we have experienced an unprecedented 88% of our membership active with community service. The Board members put in the most time into this club, and they range between 60-100 hours of service with some Board members contributing at least 10 and sometimes 20 hours per week. 15% of our membership gave exactly 3 hrs. But the biggest group at 33% of our membership exceeds the 3 hour minimum (3-10 hrs) with another 11% on top of that.

This 11% group ranked as award winning high service members for special mention.


For those people, who have done the most work, (not including board members) the names were put into a hat for one of three special prizes.
  • 6 people at 10-15 hours (Bronze) - hose nozzle 
  • 5 people at 15-20 hours (Silver) - special spade with extended handle
  • 4 people at 20-60 hours (Gold) - solid metal clippers -Made in France

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Special Recognition (The winner of the special drawing is underlined.)
​
BRONZE   10-15 HRS
1 Beth Schrum  D 11
2 Anna Doumnova A 05
3 Hilda Rich  B 28
4 Janet Linville  B 01
5  Johan  Marfey  C 24
6 Curtis Lowrey Associate

SILVER 15-20  
1 Aiesha Eleusizov Associate
2 Carole Kennedy B 13
3 Colleen Kennedy A 17
4 Maureen Leong C 35
5 Michael Bieganek B 33

GOLD 20-60
1 Karen Lee B 11
2 Farouk Amad C 56
3 Ron Schuppert C 13
4 Vaughn Anglesey B 14

Each person who did not win the main prize drawing was awarded a box of bulbs, as well as a certificate.

​Thank you Neal for such careful work and care for our community service hours and membership! 

RISA and RIGC  begin "Potluck Patio Gardening"program

5/22/2016

 

Every Thursday from 12:30 - 2:00 p.m. with RISA on the Senior Center Terrace
Contact: Barbara Parker at RISA  and rigardenclub@gmail.com 

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 It was cloudy and cool, but we left with warm hearts! Thanks to donations and help from many, we successfully launched the RISA Potluck Patio Gardening on May 5th, 2016.

A shout out of thanks goes to the RI Girl Scouts and their leaders, Aiesha and Janine, and iDig2Learn's Christina, who cleaned up the terrace in advance.  Thanks also to those, like Jennifer Schuppert and Ron Schuppert, who hosted the RISA field trip visit to our gardens on April 25th! 

Six to eight RISA Members attended on May 5th for this first Thursday activity for planting and gardening. Some came with plants and others with pots and ideas. Some people just came ready to help.  We had cuttings  and pots with soil at the ready. We also had seeds to plant and share.  We filled some pots with zinnias and got a round herb and flower planter started.

Anthony Longo reworked the composter that we have donated for the center and brought down more soil and tools. AJ shared GRIN stickers with every single participant. We set up a cart to hold extra pots and tools.  Beverly donated a lemon tree and the wooden cart will soon be propped up and loaded with more plantings.  More donations of pots and tools are always welcome as this program gets rooted.

Gardening can bring people together and we certainly felt that today.  The squirrels will be heading down Main Street soon when they figure out there will be a new place with tasty tomatoes, cucumbers, sunflowers and more.

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Spring is in the air and our 2016 season has arrived!

3/16/2016

 
January 17th, February 7th, March 13th...The 2016 Roosevelt Island Garden Club Executive Board has been meeting to keep everything running smoothly and growing beautifully. Your Executive Board has been busy with face to face meetings, numerous phone calls, regular email exchanges, and trips to the garden on chilly days. Sande Elinson, Secretary 2016 has been working assiduously on records and registration. Neal Weissman, Vice President 2016, has been checking and contacting waitlist members.  Geof Kerr, Treasurer 2016, has been double-checking all income reports and expenditures down to the smallest receipt items and more. Neal Weissman, Vice President 2016, has been checking and contacting waitlist members. Ali Schwayri, President 2016, stays in touch with Public Safety, and has finalized and signed our approved agreements with RIOC. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg!  

            Don't miss the Spring General Meeting on March 20th for all the news.  
        Rivercross Community Room - sign in at 6:30 p.m. and meeting at 7:00 p.m.  
           RIGC T-shirts 15.00 and Sweatshirts 22.00 will be on sale at the door. 
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