State awards for the Darlington Garden Club
Darlington Garden Club members (front row, left to right) Karen Sprott, Myra Bumgarner, (back row, left to right) Delette Jordan, Lou Kirchen, Julie Culbertson, Ronda Brown, Linda Beckham.
Photo by Samantha Lyles
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
You need only look around downtown Darlington to see the positive impact made by members of the Darlington Garden Club, but their work goes far beyond installing and maintaining flower pots around the Public Square.
Staging annual cleanup days, doing park and public space beautification and decorating for holidays takes a lot of time and dedication, and their outstanding efforts have earned them two new awards from the Garden Club of South Carolina.
“We were given the Certificate of Merit, First Place, and it’s for garden clubs that have gone above and beyond to serve their communities,” said Lou Kirchen, president of Darlington Garden Club. “The ladies have worked so hard. They are an extraordinary group, and what makes it even better is that there are so many people in the community who are willing to collaborate with us, because there’s no way the Garden Club could do all of this alone.”
Kirchen says the Certificate of Merit (for clubs under 29 members) took into account the breadth of projects and duties undertaken by club members during 2018, including serving on the city’s Beautification Board and Planning Commission, and working with the Greater Darlington Chamber of Commerce.
One Darlington Garden Club member, Ronda Brown, took a part-time position working for the city doing painting, cleaning, planting and other public- space improvements. She now supervises one employee and donates her wages to the club to help fund additional projects.
Kirchen lists a number of specific projects that factored into their award-winning year, such as improving and maintaining the Darlington city entrance marker on the Lamar Highway and purchasing a lighted Christmas tree for the Public Square.
“The Square needed a new Christmas tree, something that could be a centerpiece for the community.
What was so wonderful about this project was that while we bought the tree, it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the Darlington Fire Department, the county supporting the effort to put the tree on the Square, the Kiwanis Club building the beautiful drum platform for the tree, and Light Up Darlington putting up all those lights – it was contagious,” says Kirchen.
Darlington Garden Club also received a Second Place award for Christmas Beautification of a Historic Building, recognizing their work on the Dargan House (which also serves as the City of Darlington Administration Building), the Carnegie Library, and the Public Walkway inside the McLellan Building on the Square.
Kirchen says all the positive momentum has helped the club recruit several new members over the past year, and they are looking to increase their ranks even more in 2019. If you’d like to learn more about joining the Darlington Garden Club, inquire with any member or leave a message for Ronda Brown at the city administration office.
In the meantime, make plans to pitch in and help during the Garden Club’s April 27 Community Clean Up Day, where volunteers fan out across the city to plant flowers, clean up, paint, and perform a variety of chores to help shine up Darlington. Work assignments will be given at 9 a.m. outside the Greater Darlington Chamber of Commerce.
