The Suffield Garden Club has awarded the town’s environmental task force, Sustainable Suffield, a $9,000 grant to cover the rental of a food scrap dumpster in West Suffield.
Currently, town residents have access to only one food scrap dumpster, located behind town hall. The grant is to fund three years of rental and hauling for an additional dumpster. “We plan to place a two-yard dumpster near Ebbs Corner, so West Suffield residents don’t have to drive to the town center to drop off their food waste,” according to Sustainable Suffield Co-chair Tony Peterson.
The grant was made possible through a donation by the late Betty Jean Stroh of Suffield to the club. Stroh was a long-time member who, along with her husband, Charles, was the second owner of Hilltop Farm.
Her interests were multifaceted. She was a trained landscape architect who also bred champion German wire-haired pointers and thoroughbred horses. For many years, she served on the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission and as a Connecticut trustee of the Eastern States Exposition.
Through the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the Suffield Garden Club has also established a scholarship award to be given to a high school student annually in Stroh’s name.
The all-volunteer nonprofit was founded in 1934 and is dedicated to preserving Suffield’s beauty through programs such as tree plantings, the sale of perennials at its popular annual May Market, and educational programs that instill respect for the environment.
Tony Peterson, co-chair of Sustainable Suffield, flanked by Suffield Garden Club members, (L to R) Anita Wardell, chair of the Betty Jean Stroh Committee, Jackie Hemond and Lisa Parker, vice president of the club. Missing from the photo are Jean Matejek, a Betty Jean Stroh Committee member, and Joyce Zien, Garden Club President.