Civic Projects
| | Treaty Oak - circa 1940
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| | Treaty Oak - 2003
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Since the inception of the Garden Club in 1922, we have been busy helping our community in many ways.
In the early years we were instrumental in the creation of many of Jacksonville's city parks and tree planting around the city.
The Garden Club, with the help of member Jessie Ball Dupont helped save downtown's historic Treaty Oak. Located in what is now the
Jessie Ball duPont Park, the Treaty Oak is a landmark well worth preserving. When Mrs. duPont deeded the tree and the
adjacent land to the city for a park she stipulated the land was to be used, "only for a park, one of the purposes of which is to preserve the ancient oak commonly known as the Treaty Oak . . . for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public".
| | Queen's Harbour Habijax Project
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Today, our circles are active with landscaping for HabiJax, local roadways and parks, the I.
M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless, the A. L. Lewis Center and neighborhood entrances. We've helped local schools with
landscaping and setting up gardens for the students and helped create a therapy garden for a local
hospital, giving patients a place to relax and heal.
Several of our circles helped establish the Horticultural Garden at the Jacksonville Zoo and we contributed
money from our annual auction to help with this garden.
Through the Florida Federation
of Garden Clubs, we provide seeds and tools to third world countries so that
they can learn to grow their own food and provide for themselves. We believe it is
better to teach a man to fish (and garden) than to provide him with fish (and vegetables).
The Jacksonville Garden Club provides scholarships for children of all walks of life to attend Camp
Wekiva for a week. This is sometimes a life altering activity for these children. In 2002, we sent five
young girls to camp and they sent us back enthusiastic thank you notes. One of these has
decided that she would like to become a camp counselor and has started
working toward that goal.
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