Melrose Rotary leverages District Grant

The Melrose Rotary Club has continually focused on outreach projects to help fill the needs of our community. Past President ( 2014-15) Mary Beth Margolis knew that such a need existed through her involvement in the Community Coalition of Melrose. Melrose Rotary is a member of this umbrella organization which brings together non profit organizations to discuss projects and plan events. For quite sometime a group of Melrose gardeners had been hoping for a community garden spot but space in the 4 square mile city of Melrose was at a premium and finances were limited. Through her work on the Melrose Board of Alderman, Mary Beth helped identify an unused portion of parkland and began to reach out the the garden community. Thanks to a matching District grant which was noticed in the e bulletin, the Melrose Rotary Board of Directors approved an application and committed $3000 to the project. The City of Melrose matched the Rotary funds and the local Whole Foods and Whittemore Hardware store also contributed. Nineteen beds were carved out from the space allotted and included one for nearby residents of the Senior Housing, McCarthy House. Work began May 20th with several Rotarians helping to fill the beds. Despite the late Spring weather, most of the beds are now planted and there's a 50+ name waiting list for any additional beds!

 

The Grand Opening is scheduled for June 17th at 8 AM at the Franklin Field Community Gardens. We hope many of our Melrose Rotarians and District leaders will join us to celebrate this wonderful collaboration!