Floyd County Fair Winners - 2024

Rome Federated Garden Clubs
2023-2025 Officers

Installed by Cheryl Briscoe,
Laurel District Director

President - Anita Bridges, 1st Vice President - Joy Puckett, 2nd Vice President - Donna Kinighten, 3rd Vice President - Cheryl Melton, 4th Vice President - Joan Fellows, Treasurer Carolyn Afford, Recording Secretary - Susal Little, Corresponding Secretary - Kathy Donahue, Presidential Advisor - John Barnett

Cindy Smith, Salle Smith, Renate Starr, Nancy Thompson, Carolyn Tillman, Patti Causey,
Steve Follows, Dean Guinn, and Melissa Phillips

Award 14: Horticulture Achievement—2nd Place Rome Federated Garden Club
Award 16:  Yearbook -2nd Place Mountain View Garden Club (Rome)
Award 16:  Yearbook—large club—1st Place Seven Hills Garden Club, (Rome)
Award 16:  Yearbook—1st Place Rome Federated Garden Clubs, Inc.
Award 37:  Publication—Membership Brochure—1st Place Rome Federated Garden Clubs
Award 53:  Website Award—2nd Rome Federated Garden Clubs
Award 60:  Garden Week in Georgia Award—1st Place Rome Federated Garden Clubs

DEEP  SOUTH AWARDS for yearbooks
1st Place—Yearbook Large Club—Seven Hills
1st Place—Yearbook -Rome Federated Garden Clubs
2nd Place—Arbor Day, Townview Garden Club

NATIONAL GARDEN CLUB AWARDS
Publication—(Newsletter)  1st Place Townview Garden Club

PLANT AMERICA Community Project Grant
Final Report
by the
Rome Federated Garden Clubs, Inc. and
Townview Garden Club

It is with great pleasure that I present to you a report on the hard work and dedication of the garden club members of Rome, GA. Dedicated volunteer members of the Rome Federated Garden Clubs, Inc. and the Townview Garden Club successfully renovated the grounds at the Harbor House thanks, in part, to the 2022 Plant America Community Project Grant.

Harbor House was chosen for this grant because it is the Northwest Georgia Child Advocacy Center (CAC) and the Floyd County Court Appointed Special Advocates program home. Harbor House is one of 48 CACs across the state. Founded in 1994, Harbor House was one of the original 9 CACs created in Georgia. The primary purpose of a CAC is to centralize the investigatory process on the child and their caregiver, in order to minimize re-traumatization to the child by the very system that is designed to protect them. Children must relive their traumatic and abusive incident every time that they are asked to share their story with the different agency personnel involved in the child abuse investigative process, such as the police, DFCS, doctors, teachers, parents, other family members, prosecutors, etc. By utilizing Harbor House, the child is allowed to share what happened to them in a beautiful and comfortable location with a specially trained forensic interviewer, where the child's needs are always first and foremost. The CAC also provides crisis coordination through the intake process with the family, offering referrals to other service agencies when necessary. Ongoing advocacy with the child and their caregivers for as long as necessary, which could sometimes be years. Trauma-focused therapy services are made available to the children through Harbor House at no cost to the family. Additionally, Floyd County CASA, which serves as the child's voice during juvenile court proceedings, works out of Harbor House. They utilize office space and the board room to hold training sessions for their volunteer workers. Harbor House is the center piece to the county's child abuse protocol, bringing all the organizations involved in child abuse investigations together with the main purpose of protecting the child while they navigate through the judicial process.

Harbor House hosts a bi-monthly Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meeting, where each and every abuse case is discussed in order to avoid mistakes and/or oversights. On average, Harbor House conducts 200 forensic interviews per year, while hosting over 300 cost-free therapy sessions as well. Harbor House serves both Floyd and Polk counties. With a staff of 8, Harbor House and Floyd County CASA work daily to make sure that children who have experienced abuse, or are currently navigating the judicial system, are heard, offered therapy, and remain the primary focus of all the agencies that they may encounter along the way.

Next year will bring the 30th Anniversary of the founding of Harbor House. In the mid-1990’s, two homes, next door to each other in the “Between the Rivers” Historic District of downtown Rome were graciously donated to be used for the aforementioned activities. Time and age of the buildings and grounds had taken their toll. Harbor House Board of Directors secured a grant to refurbish the houses and The Rome Federated Garden Clubs, Inc., led by Townview Garden Club, secured the Plant America Community Project Grant to refurbish the grounds. With the funds in place and the commitment of many volunteers, 2022 was a year of reclaiming the beauty of Harbor House.

In addition to the grant money, each member of the Rome Federated Garden Clubs pledged one dollar in support of the project. Townview Garden Club also hosted a garage sale in order to donate extra funds for this project. Ten separate work days were scheduled throughout the duration of the project in which members volunteered their time and talents to clean up, remove the old, and plant new. These work days resulted in approximately 150 hours of volunteer time given by the Federated Garden Club and Townview Garden Club members. The project’s goal was to create a beautiful landscape on the grounds of Harbor House. This goal is based on the belief that the children served by Harbor House will experience tranquility and healing as a result of the beauty of the grounds, setting a tone of peace and welcoming before they enter the facility.

The project included two phases: clean up and beautification. The clean up began with many hours of removing English ivy on the homes, trees, shrubs and in the beds. The shrubs were removed in front to aid in the construction work. Additionally, removal was necessary because they had been trimmed into unnatural ball shapes, which made them unhealthy. A large area, approximately 8’x10’, of dense Lenten roses has been rejuvenated during this project and the blooms this winter/early spring have been gorgeous. The three large crepe myrtles that line the street in front of one of the two houses needed trimming. The City of Rome Street Department trimmed these properly with guidance from a few garden club members! Volunteers removed old bricks, stones, and wood from the beds, and they cleaned up an old walkway to the rear entrance. Both houses had a lot of overgrown Nandina which was thinned out and trimmed during the many work days.

Phase two, the beautification process, was a much easier task than the clean up. Upon approval from the Rome Historic Preservation Commission and after the homes had been refurbished and painted, the grounds restoration project began. The following plants were purchased at cost from Watters & Associates Landscape: ‘Spring Bouquet’ Viburnum,  ‘Carissa’ Holly, ‘Hummingbird’ Clethra, ‘Hoogendorn’ Holly, Tea Olive, ‘Merlot’ Virginia Sweetspire, ‘George Tabor’ Azalea, and Gaura. Planting day was quite easy, and many volunteer hands made for light work. Botts Brother’s Landscaping was hired to dig holes for the new plants and seven garden club members came to plant - in the rain! The Federated Garden Clubs and Townview Garden Club ladies have been a dedicated bunch of women throughout this project. The final work day was simply to lay pine straw in beds and gravel on the back sidewalks. We had ten volunteers who again made quick work of 35 bales of pine straw, sweeping and blowing off the walkways. The Berry College Baseball team sent 4 strong student volunteers to aid in laying the gravel. Their efforts were greatly appreciated by the garden club ladies.

As you can gather from this report, the outpouring of support not only from our Federated and Townview Garden Club members, but from the community as a whole, was tremendous throughout this project. It has been wonderful coordinating the efforts of so many volunteers to bring beauty to a child’s world during their most tragic time in life.  The Project Coordinator, Mrs. Pam Roberts, scheduled the work days and encouraged our volunteers. She has earned our deepest gratitude!

Respectfully submitted,

Melissa Phillips
Townview Garden President
Plant America Community Project Grant Chairperson

*Photographs attached and permission granted to use in outside publications.

Floyd County Fair Earnings for Garden Clubs - 2023

Rome Federated Garden Center Updates

Construction is completed on the long-awaited accessibility ramp for The Garden Center of The Rome Federated Garden Clubs. A new side door entrance with a ramp has been constructed to provide easier access to our older members from the parking area. During the renovations, the bathroom fixtures were updated with a high-rise toilet, sink, faucets, and cabinet. The old back door has been enclosed and new siding placed over the former entrance. All locks have been replaced and new keys given to the garden clubs

The landscaping is being revamped as the New Rome Federation Project. Invasive plants, like nandina, English ivy, and mahonia have been removed already. Plans are being made to replace these with Native plants. All of the garden clubs will be working on this project for the next two years.

Marshall Forest Update

Marshall Forest has been the scene of much activity this fall. Many community groups have worked together to help make improvements in the forest.

 ·      A crew from Roosterhead Warehouse removed part of the existing fence to make way for access to a bus turnaround.

·      Andrew Saville, the son of a Garden Club Member, mowed the Pecan Field in preparation for the driveway.

·      The City of Rome Public Works Department constructed the culvert and driveway across from the entrance to Marshall Forest, which will provide better access to the pecan grove and river front parts of the forest.

·      Berry College Freshmen worked in the forest to remove invasive species on the annual freshman workday.

·      The annual Robert Week Memorial Walk, October 16, 2020, was sponsored by Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful in conjunction with the Young Professionals of the Rome Floyd Chamber of Commerce, The Nature Conservancy, The Garden Club of Georgia, and The Weed Family. Over 60 forest enthusiasts turned out for the walk along the Big Pine Braille Trail led by Owen Kinney, Science Teacher at Darlington School, on the gorgeous fall day.

·      News coverage of the walk and the Boy Scout Project was provided by the Rome News Tribune with two separate articles.

·      Marshall Forest was one of the featured destinations on the Georgia Historic Preservation Ramble on October 17, 2020.

·      On Saturday October 17, 2020, Philip Lataif along with members of Boy Scout Troop 113 worked to replace the rotted guide rope posts along the trail. The supplies were provided from contributions made to The Land Trust Marshall Forest by Garden Clubs and individuals across the state.

Marshall Forest still has many things that need to be done to keep the trail well maintained and accessible to the physically impaired.

·      Finish replacing the remaining guide rope posts.

·      Reinstalling the guide ropes with climbing rope donated by a climbing gym in Marietta.

·      Installation of crusher run gravel along the Braille Trail to provide more accessibility to the physically impaired.

·      Creation of QR codes to provide trail maps, Forest information, and plant identification photos.

The Nature Conservancy is working on a partnership with Berry College and Shorter University to create learning centers in the Pecan field and over to the Coosa River. The goal is make the Marshall Forest a destination for student field trips.

 Your contributions help us keep the Marshall Forest in good condition for visitors. Please don’t forget to add Marshall Forest to your club’s list of contributions. Deed of Gratitude certificates will be presented to contributors of $25 or more to Marshall Forest by March 1 of each year. Contact Caroline Alford to schedule a tour of the forest via e-mail at caroboone@aol.com or by cell phone 706 346-5886.