Money Available to Make Your Garden Dream Come True!

Dear Neighbor,

Have you ever eyed a particular plot of land in the 49th Ward and imagined it as a beautiful garden?  Maybe it is a street corner, a grassy area at your local school or place of worship, or a street-end at the beach.  If you had some good advice and the money to make it happen, would you get your neighbors together and create a garden for our community?

The Rogers Park Garden Group (RPGG) is providing financial grants to create gardens on public property.  The grants range from $100 to $1,000, depending on the size of the project.  This year, the Garden Group expanded the program to include higher dollar amounts and gardening counsel and advice.  Visit www.rogersparkgardengroup.org for more information or click here for the application and guidelines. The deadline is February 15.

The RPGG Adopt the Public Way grants program is funded by community gardening donations and proceeds from the RPGG's spring sale and the fall Garden of Treasures Sale & Fundraiser.  You can read about the 2008 and 2009 garden grant awards and see presentations of the garden projects on the RPGG website at www.rogersparkgardengroup.org.

The RPGG hopes to fund as many projects as possible. Thus far, neighborhood residents, businesses, schools, houses of worship, and organizations have taken advantage of the grants program.  Won't you turn over a new leaf and get a new garden going in 2010?

If public way gardening isn't your thing, I hope you will still consider a membership or donation to the Rogers Park Garden Group.  Your $10 membership supports these grants and goes a long way toward beautifying our community and supporting an organization that goes above and beyond to support other groups working to green our neighborhood.  I especially wish to thank them for their ongoing support of my 49th Ward Green Corps, the Glenwood Sunday Market, Transition Rogers Park, North Lake Shore Earth Day, and many others.  Their cooperative spirit is contagious and good for our neighborhood.

Membership entitles you to free admission to the RPGG speaker series (which are otherwise $5 each), the Garden Meander and reception (a member-only event), and all other events and activities.  Members also receive a regular email newsletter.

Please join today and consider submitting an application for a Public Way Garden, and pass this along to a friend who may have an interest.  The deadline is February 15, so please don't delay!

Sincerely,

Joe Moore