Dear Rotarians and friends,
Terry Reed visited us last week from the West Reading-Wyomissing Rotary Club. He shared his journey from a 47-year career in engineering and environmental consulting to retirement in 2020, after which he said “yes” to a call from the then District Governor, Bob Hobaugh, to create and lead our Rotary District's Environmental Sustainability Team.
Terry Reed visited us last week from the West Reading-Wyomissing Rotary Club. He shared his journey from a 47-year career in engineering and environmental consulting to retirement in 2020, after which he said “yes” to a call from the then District Governor, Bob Hobaugh, to create and lead our Rotary District's Environmental Sustainability Team.
Terry shared many great examples of clubs that implemented rewarding environmental programs, often with the help of readily available District grants. There were 3 projects that Terry talked about that I thought seemed very reasonable for our club to consider.
- Recycle bags in exchange for park benches through NexTrex. I have been recycling bags and plastic film at Wegman’s each week for many years and was happy to see a program that can use the bags to make something from them. Linda Chaplin reported that Keystone Opportunity Center is already enrolled in the program and has been successfully turning in their bags for benches used in Keystone’s food pantry.
- Plant a pollinator garden. There is a rain garden and sculpture garden planned for the Souderton Community Park, which offers many possibilities for growing plants that bees, birds, and butterflies love. I will check with Leon Moyer and Ed Brubaker to see what could be done.
- Plant trees. I talked with the President of the Souderton Area High School environmental club, SAVE, last year about the possibility of partnering with STRC to plant trees and they are interested. I will work with her on a proposal that incorporates recommendations from Jay Glickman, who is on the shade tree commission for Montgomery Township and has a lot of experience with tree planting programs.
I love gardening. Not only do I love the wide diversity of colors, shapes and sizes of the trees, bushes and flowers themselves, but I love remembering where they came from. Sometimes they come from a walk in the woods, or a visit to a local nursery, and often, they come from friends and family members who have grown them for years and had enough to share. I enjoy watching plants grow and expand and then sharing some of what I have with other people.
I look forward to seeing what we might create together this year throughout the community and to happy thoughts of STRC every time I see what we have done.
In Rotary
Kate