New Leadership Team at Ahwatukee Community Garden

Hello from Betina!

Warmest greetings, friends of the Garden!
 
Just wanted to give you a quick update after all the commotion of these past few weeks.
 
THANKS
First, let me start by saying how grateful we all are to Linda for her past leadership and keeping the Garden going throughout all these years. It takes a lot of commitment and we’re grateful to Linda and to ALL who’ve dedicated time and effort over the years. Thanks, too, for her trust in those of us who will take over here on out, doing our best to move the Garden forward so that it is the oasis and inspiring community and learning space we envision.
 
PLANS/VISION
To date we’ve had a Zoom meeting and an in-person meeting at the Garden. There’s been much excitement and energy flowing and we hope to keep this momentum going, because it will certainly take some effort to put all our plans in motion. Our first aim is to have all roles defined and filled, with redundancies wherever possible, to lighten the load for everyone involved and assure continuity.
 
Our ultimate goal is for everyone to experience the satisfaction of meaningful contribution, to learn and be inspired to incorporate what we learn at the Garden into our daily lives. All who come to the Garden will know what’s planned for each week, can grab the proper tools they need, can get any guidance they might need, and would eventually see the fruits of their labor. We hope everyone will bring their family and friends to become part of our Garden community.
 
There is MUCH to do to get back on track – in the dirt and at the keyboard, on the phone, with ideas and, most importantly, our follow-through. With some effort, resourcefulness, and a lot of p..a..t..i..e..n..c..e, lessons that we can take directly from nature, we will together create the Garden that our community will be eager to visit and join in.
 
FUTURE MEETINGS/GARDEN DATES
Scheduling in-person meetings is always a challenge. Our first in-person session took place on a Wednesday morning. We want to have future in-person meetings immediately following our gardening dates -- we would already be gathered and our creative juices would be flowing. We invite you to join up, as a lead or participant, on any of the number of committees we’ve identified.
 
As of now, here are the ACGP top leads:
administrative/finance                                  Betina Frisone
planning and development                         Anicka Martin
garden                                                                  Om Vadhwa
fundraising campaign 2022                           Linda Rominger (master gardener)
 
THANKS to all who’ve already stepped up to take on committees and tasks! We’ll continue to work on defining committees and tasks and set up a program/schedule for all to consider where they’d be most interested in helping out. Please keep in mind, these roles are fluid. We hope to see everyone have an opportunity to share their current skills, but to also have the opportunity to grow as our interests evolve… as the Garden goes… and grows. More to come on this, but if anything below strikes your interest, or if you think of anything, please let us know by replying to this email.
 
Examples: hospitality, irrigation control, maintenance and repairs, pest control, weeding, educational program, composting program, children’s garden program, ________________, ________________
 
Thanks for reading this far… and apologies for the length of this message. I’m just SO excited to see everyone on board to see our Garden flourish!! You can expect to hear from Anicka, with all sorts of plans and calls to action.
 
In addition to featuring Garden matters, we’d also like to get to know each other, so we’ll also feature our people – who we are, what we can share, what we hope to learn, and how we plan to use it. Any journalists or enthusiasts in the house? LOL
 
Looking forward to getting to know you and working with everyone.
 
See you at the Garden!
 
Betina