Jasper Rotary supports growing HOPE Garden
Members of the Rotary Club of Jasper planted 36 bald cypress — one for each of the club’s Rotarians — at Memorial Hospital Foundation’s Hope Garden.
The 36 trees represent a small portion of the 235 the group presented to the garden created to help provide fresh fruit and vegetables to food insecure families in Dubois County. The trees included other Indiana native varieties like paw paw, common witch hazel, serviceberry, pagoda dogwoods, eastern red cedar and elderberry.
According to master gardener Jill Knies, the trees will be planted throughout the garden area to assist in creating an ecosystem to better sustain the garden naturally.
The Rotary Club provided the trees after Rotary International’s President Ian Riseley challenged Rotary clubs across the globe to plant a tree for every club member.
Jasper Rotary President Charlotte Roesner and Rotarian Judi Brown collaborated with Michael Jones, Memorial Hospital Foundation Director and Knies to select the appropriate trees to compliment their vision for the Hope Garden.
“I feel this partnership is a great opportunity to support a project bigger than ourselves, Roesner said. “Planting anything, whether it is vegetables that help feed our community, or a tree that will feed local wildlife and provide shade for our grandchildren, is a worthy endeavor. The Jasper Rotarians are very excited to be a part of this project.”
The foundation planted the HOPE (Helping Others Produce Excitement) Garden for the first time in 2015 on about three-fourths of an acre. It grew larger in 2016 through volunteer efforts and in 2017, Knies was hired to oversee the growing project. The garden spreads over about four acres now.
