Marilyn Krueger, President 2019-2021

 

Theme: “Plant America While Encouraging New Gardeners”

 

As Illinois supports the national theme of “Plant America,” our focus is two-fold as we “encourage new gardeners.”  First, members are reminded to grow their own club by encouraging their friends, family, and neighbors to come to their garden club events and, as the relationships grow, to invite them to join. Second, members are reminded to include and encourage the youth in their families, neighborhoods, and communities as they garden with the young gardeners, as they do garden-related activities with youth and as they encourage our young gardeners to enter the youth contests offered by our state, regional and national organizations. 

 

My President’s Projects include:

    1.  Planting for pollinators, especially around our Blue Star markers

    2.  Planting native trees, with awards for the club that plants the most trees and the club that

         plants the highest percentage of trees/members. 

    3.  Growing club membership, with awards for the club that first adds 21 new members and 

         the club that first increases its membership by 21% by the end of my term in 2021. This echoes a

         challenge by NGC President, Gay Austin.

    4.  Encouraging projects and activities with youth increased participation in youth contests and adding

         a youth section of photos on our state website.

 

I have been a member of my garden club for twenty-two years, and wish I had known about garden clubs sooner.  I had been sharing gardening tips, tricks, escapades, and adventures with my gardening friends and enjoyed improving my own gardens.  But a whole new world opened up to me when I was asked to join the Naperville Garden Club! 

 

I currently serve as Scholarship Chairman and have also held the positions of Recording Secretary, President, First Vice-President, Garden Walk Chairman, and Flower Show Chairman.  I continue to serve the state as Youth Activities Chairman.  I look forward to meeting many more gardeners, learning from you and bringing new ideas back to Illinois.