Quilcene-Brinnon Garden Club provides more than $5K in grants

QUILCENE — A two-day plant sale, held months ago, has just spread a lot of green around: $5,280 in fact, to 10 South County grant recipients.

“This is really amazing,” said Leslie Tippens of the Quilcene Food Bank, one of the organizations accepting one of those grant checks from the Quilcene-Brinnon Garden Club on Thursday.

The club, which holds its plant sale every Memorial Day weekend, presented the food bank with $950 during its meeting. The Brinnon Food Bank also received $950 for its efforts to nourish rural residents in need.

These beneficiaries, said garden club grant presenter Bob Bindschadler, make Quilcene and Brinnon the kind of community where he wants to live.

“I’m really proud to be a member” of the club, he said, noting it gives away some 80 percent of plant-sale proceeds. The organization, which is marking its 75th anniversary this year, also awarded grants to:

• Center Valley Animal Rescue, which accepted $500 for its program providing spay-neuter services to 259 pets this past year;

• The Quilcene Weekend Nutrition program, which received $500;

• Quilcene community gardens, which received $280 for three trees;

• Brinnon Fire and Rescue, whose $500 grant funds new Guardian Angel LED lights for first responders to wear on their shoulders or helmets;

• Quilcene Fire and Rescue, which received $500 for carbon monoxide detectors;

• The Quilcene Historical Museum, which received $250 for its work improving Worthington Park;

• The Quilcene Community Center, which will use its $350 grant to buy a large-screen smart TV;

• Quilcene-Brinnon Dollars for Scholars, which accepted $500 for its scholarship program.

“This means the world to us,” Center Valley Animal Rescue marketing coordinator Cody Maxwell said as she accepted her check.

“We have 10 kittens in our lobby,” she added. “They are adorable,” and cat lovers interested in adopting can find an application at centervalleyanimalrescue.org.

Dollars for Scholars’ Jim Hodgson also urged local residents to look into his organization. Information about applying for scholarships can be found at https://quilcene-brinnon.dollarsforscholars.org under Students and Parents.

Quilcene Historical Museum representative Christine Satterlee spoke about the upgrading of the Worthington Mansion and the 10-acre Worthington Park around it.

“It’s 99 percent done, and we cannot believe it,” she said of the 1892 property, now re-equipped with a catering kitchen and lodging for eight people.

“Worthington Park is part of the [Quilcene Historical] Museum process,” added Jeff Childs, a board member.

“Our idea is for a destination where people can come, and that local people can be proud of.”

Through this week, the front of the Worthington Mansion, 151 W. Columbia St., is the place to see entrants in the annual scarecrow contest; winners will be announced today at WorthingtonParkQuilcene.org.

Meantime, the Quilcene-Brinnon Garden Club members voted to hold their next plant sale at the Brinnon Community Center, 306144 U.S. Highway 101. The event is set for the weekend of May 28-29.

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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladaily news.com.