Governor 2011-2012, Megan Jones-Holt, mjonesholt@gmail.com

Governor Designee, Dwight Leeper, dwight.leeper@gmail.com

Governor Nominee, Tulsi Maharjan, tmaharjan@comcast.net

Director Club & Community Service, Laura DePrado, lauradeprado@gmail.com

Hunterdon County Liason, (position is open)

Mercer County Liason, Jerry Levanduski, levland@optonline.net, Robbinsville-Hamilton Club

Middlesex County Liason, Madhaven Nair, mbn@1mbninsurance.com, Woodbridge Club

Somerset County Liason, Mike Cohen, mike@darbylitho.com, Branchburg Club

Union County Liason, Art Lobdell, art.lobdell@scouting.org, Elizabeth Club

Bill Hlubik, Agricultural Agent, Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension, Middlesex County, hlubik@njaes.rutgers.edu

Meredith Melendez, Agricultural Agent, Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension, Mercer County, melendez@njaes.rutgers.edu

Nick Polanin, Agricultural Agent, Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension, Somerset County, polanin@njaes.rutgers.edu

Rebecca Magron, Research Assistant and Horticulturalist, Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension, Hunterdon County, magron@njaes.rutgers.edu

Madeline Flahive-DiNardo, Agricultural Agent, Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension, Union County, flahive@njaes.rutgers.edu

Dr. Robert Goodman, Executive Dean and Executive Director NJAES

Dr. Larry Katz, Director, Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension

Dan Klushinski, Associate Director, NJAES Rutgers Cooperative Extension

Nick Polanin, State Master Gardener Program Coordinator, Rutgers Cooperative Extension

Dr. James White, Chair, Department of Plant Sciences Rutgers

Dr. Laura Lawson, Chair, Department of Landscape Design Rutgers

Dr. Seiko Goto, Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Design Rutgers

Professor Joel Flagler, Horticultural Therapy and Agricultural Agent Rutgers

Rotary and Rutgers Project "Growing Lives One Seed at a Time" View Our Latest Update     What is the project? Enabling Garden spaces with active horticultural Therapy. This project will allow us to create barrier-free, accessible gardens that allow anyone to grow native flowers, vegetables and herbs in a non-threatening environment. In turn some of the product grown will be given to groups, people in need. The garden can be any size from a customized raised planter or planters, to a larger space (indoors or outdoors). These spaces are built with modifications, the availability of lightweight adaptable, adjustable and interchangeable tools to maximize opportunity to participate and horticultural therapy programming. To learn more about horticultural therapy click on www.ahta.org. The American Horticultural Therapy Association sets all standards and guidelines for Horticultural Therapy. To read more check out my monthly column in the Gardener News, New Jersey's leading newspaper serving the landscape, agriculture, horticulture, nursery and greenhouse industries www.gardenernews.com/Pages/newsonline.htm (then click on the month). Who can benefit? People of all ages at any stage of life. What are the principles of Horticultural Therapy? No one should be denied the benefits of working with plants Anyone can be successful with plants on some level Successes with plants can lead to other successes in our lives Plants are universally appealing: They are part of the human experience at a very early age Goals may vary between populations and between individuals This project will not happen overnight but rather in phases over time. It is worthwhile. It will fulfull all five avenues of the RI mission: Club Service, Vocation, Education, New Generation and International. Call me to learn more and be introduced to the project and how it will impact each of our Rotary District 7510 communities. Overtime enabling gardens will become a wonderful hands-on project for any club that chooses to support. Here is where we are: A 17-member Strategic Planning Committee of Rotary and Rutgers representatives has been formed. One Rotary Liaison for four out of five counties has been identified. One Enabling Garden pilot project will be identified in Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Union and Mercer Counties. We need the help of Mercer County Clubs to identify a representative for Mercer County. This representative will become the Liaison, and part of the Committee to identify an Enabling Garden Project for Mercer County. The time committment is minimal for now. The liaison must be connected to the community and its needs, be a team player, and have the ability to listen and connect resources. The Strategic Planning Committee will discuss and visit potential enabling garden project/sites for each of the counties based on Eligibility Criteria Each site will become a pilot that will serve different special populations on the broad spectrum. The populations will be identified by the experts on the Strategic Planning Committee. The groups, people in who will receive product grown will also be identified by the Planning Committee. I look forward to presenting the project to your Club. Book your presentation. Call or email me. Who are the new partners with Rotary International District 7510? Rutgers University - School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and Department of Landscape Architecture Rutgers Cooperative Extension, the outreach arm of the University New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES), Agricultural Research Garden Examples       Garden Guidelines Photos from The Rotary Rutgers Growing Lives Kick Off Event Rutgers Executive Dean Robert Goodman's report to the NJ State Board of Agriculture which includes the Greenhouse Tour on page 4. http://execdeanagriculture.rutgers.edu/boa/ Enabling Gardens Poster