COVID 19 and CARONA VIRUS! Words that will be instilled in our minds for decades to come! It has disturbed the very heart of our country, our world as it once was. The worse part is the lives it has taken and sickness it has shown it’s wrath to others. But I never thought it could disrupt things as innocent as a garden club meeting!
You bet we are still getting together, masks and social distancing, and some can’t make it because of fear. But twenty-four have braved the storm this September and came out against all odds because we can’t stand another day of not seeing our friends! Of not being out and doing things in the community.
We couldn’t give the Scholarship award to Ariel Ebanks last month at the President’s Tea because she had been in contact with someone that had tested positive for that nasty virus. But the quarantine was up and she was there for her photo shoot even though the award was already mailed to her.
The Garden of the Month and the Link Award were not given out since most people were not wanting to be in contact with others but we were promised by Linda Ross and Clara Houston, committee members for Link and Garden of the Month, that there would be names and awards given out in October. We did however get a Treasurer’s report by Phyllis diBenedetto. Do you see what I mean about how far down the line of “not terribly important“ things that horrible virus affects!
However our new President Sue Parrill opened her first meeting by asking Chaplain Gayle Bornholdt to offer a prayer to start the meeting and then asked the membership to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
She then asked Linda Ryan to introduce our guest speaker Ginger Tastet. She is the Executive Director of Keep Tangipahoa Beautiful and Litter Coordinator and as her husband lovingly calls her “The Queen of Litter”. Ginger kept the members of the club glued to every word of her lecture on ways to combat litter and illegal dumping. There are new words and new devices…such as “Plogging”…know what that means? It is a way of jogging and picking up litter at the same time!
And then there’s a “Litter Gitter”! You must see this! It was invented by Don Bates, a good ole Hammond guy. It is already in many states besides Louisiana, West Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee to name a few. This apparatus looks like a metal cage that sits in rivers and creeks catching all the uglies like Styrofoam cups and plates, plastic bottles, soda pop cans, etc. It makes one wonder why do people think its okay to just throw trash out the car window, or walking down the street and throwing whatever trash came from that hamburger or coke is okay to just drop on the sidewalk. I’d love to see what their house looks like!
Some information Ginger spoke about was that they have picked up since January to recently 7000 bags of trash. There is a recycle place Florida Parish Scrap at 11361 Hwy. 190 that’s open 6 days a week for recycled items. Save your pop tabs off of soda cans, they sell them for cash by the pound.
Ginger is downhearted about not being able to go in the schools right now…guess why…yep that’s right, COVID! First through fourth grades are where it does the most good, where she gets the most feedback, where she sees kids telling their parents not to throw trash on the ground. After her lecture there were many questions raised by the members. She also said there was to be a parish wide pickup on September 19, watch for it in the paper.
When Ginger’s lecture was over Glenda Nelson reported that there still wasn’t a date for Cleanest City, (again Covid). The scrapbook had been finished by Phyllis Mire and Glenda and some of the beautiful artwork was used for our yearbook. She said she would let us know as soon as she knew when the judges would be coming. So sad that this monster has disrupted the lives and the livelihoods of so many!
Well that’s all folks as Bugs Bunny or Elmer Fudd would say! But may I leave you with a quote I have often used but seems so appropriate for the climate of today. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm (Covid) to pass, it’s learning to dance in the rain”!
The Hammond Garden Club is a proud member of District VI, Louisiana Garden Club Federation, Inc. and the Deep South Garden Clubs, Inc. doing our best to unify and beautify our homes, gardens, our city and our nation every day to the best of our ability. God Bless America!
by Linda Broussard
she is a member of the Hammond Garden Club