Proceeds from the Garden Club of LBI’s 50th annual Holiday Tour of Homes, featuring five decorated houses extending from Holgate to Barnegat Light this past December, will be donated to eight local organizations dedicated to environmental activities, club members announced.
The groups, hand-selected by grant committee members, include the Terrapin Nesting Project, Beach Haven School garden, Ethel A. Jacobson Elementary School garden, All Saints Regional Catholic School garden, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church community garden, the children’s garden at the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Beach Haven Future’s planting project and the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.
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| Photo by Pat Johnson Debra McWilliams and Mary Kate Murray are house chairwomen for the ‘Sand Castle’ in Loveladies. |
“In providing a monetary grant to these organizations and schools, we hope to help them in their environmental endeavors and create a better community environment for all,” said Bette Dellatorre, who chairs the grant committee.
The groups either applied for the funding or were recommended to the club. The club does not disclose how much funding it is awarding to the groups or the total of funds raised from the tour, said member Bonnie Korbeil, who was enticed to join the club after attending the tour for many years.
“I love the creativity, the hard work, the camaraderie and lasting friendships formed, and of course the end result,” she stated. “The hard work of all of our members allows us to give back to our community in support of environmental concerns facing our area, as well as the other community oriented projects that we do through the course of the year.”
During the 50 years the club has been holding the tour, only one had to be canceled, in 2012 due to Superstorm Sandy. Nearly 900 people attend the tour every year, which is always held on the second Thursday of December. Participants get to enjoy stepping into the stylishly adorned homes, indulge in tea at the Brant Beach Yacht Club and check out the many different green arrangements made by the members at the boutique held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, also in Brant Beach. Tickets normally sell out within weeks of when they go on sale on the second Friday of October.
“The tour is a labor of love for the Garden Club of LBI and planning begins in January, right after all the loose ends of the previous tour are wrapped up,” said Korbeil. “It is a huge undertaking with all members expected to participate.
“Once the homes are chosen and graciously given to the club to decorate the week of the tour, the planning and work begins. From the chairperson to the designers for the homes, to the hostesses and the workers for the tea and boutique, and all the countless other jobs, the ladies of the club give up much of their time and effort to bring this endeavor into a tour to remember for all who attend.”
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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