Gold Star Memorial to be dedicated at Lakewood Ranch Library

Members of the Gardeners Out East club had a long wait for the Lakewood Ranch Library to open.

But they weren't hoping to check out books on gardening techniques.

The club began raising money in 2016 to place a Gold Star Memorial at the planned library. They just didn't know it would take so long to open.

The library opened in January and the Gold Star Memorial plaque was installed. Now, the memorial only needs a dedication. The public is invited to attend the dedication ceremony May 4 at 10 a.m. The ceremony will continue inside the library after a dedication at the plaque outside.

The Knights of Columbus Color Corps from Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church will present the colors and lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

Speakers will include Tina Tuttle, president of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Rosita Aristoff, Blue and Gold Star Memorial chairman and Stefenie Hernandez, the mother of Army Specialist Patrick L. Lay II, who died Aug. 11, 2011 while serving during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Blue Star Memorials honor all men and women who serve in the military. Gold Star Memorials honor those who lost their lives during service. Lay was killed in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device. He was 21 years old and a Braden River High School graduate.

"It's nice to know that the sacrifices your loved one made are not forgotten," Hernandez said. "They're always remembered and appreciated. This is a small token of how society can do that for Gold Star families."

A golf tournament was originally held to raise money for the Blue Star Memorial that stands in front of Lakewood Ranch Town Hall, but members raised more money than expected.

“Because we’re a nonprofit, we can’t make money, so we put it away for a Gold Star Memorial,” incoming president Nancy Schneider said.

In addition to fundraising, the club also had to find a community building to accept the memorial because installing it in a public space is a requirement of the program. There are 275 Gold Star Memorials in the United States.

The memorial at the Lakewood Ranch Library is the 14th in Florida. While other locations were considered, the new library was worth the wait. The club now uses one of the library’s conference rooms as its meeting place. The last two meetings were held there.

“It was just a slam dunk in our minds that we have it at the library,” President Carolyn Lowry-Nation said.

Considering the wait, event chair Melodie Friedebach said they've reserved space inside the library in case it rains. 

Celebrating 10 years

Gardeners Out East has one more reason to celebrate. This is the 10th anniversary of the club.

Gardening brought the group together, but friendship and philanthropy have kept it growing. 

“One of the purposes of getting a 501(c)(3) was for us to give money,” Lowry-Nation said. “And we’ve kind of focused on vets.”

The Blue and Gold Star Memorials is a program through the National Garden Clubs, and it provided a starting point for the club. 

In 2018, The club donated to Vets 2 Success, a nonprofit formed by Bryan Jacobs to inspire, mentor, educate, and transform the lives of homeless and/or displaced veterans by teaching them skills in the culinary and craft brewing arts. 

“The reason we gave (a donation) to Bryan, of course, was not only because he was a chef, but he was doing natural cooking,” Schneider said. “It was organic gardening and then taking the food and teaching people how to cook organically. So it all comes together. It’s not just cooking, it’s about growing and cooking.”

The club has also donated to Penny Pines, another initiative through the National Garden Clubs dealing with a reforestation/forest education program. 

“It’s not only pine trees,” Lowry-Nation said. “It restores forests.” 

The program aims to save forests $68 at a time, which pays for 230 seedlings to reforest an acre of land that was damaged by fire and other natural disasters. 

The club had six founding members in 2014, but needed 10 members to join the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs and gain its nonprofit status. 

The club still has four of its founding members and 43 total members. 

“Anybody can come and join us,” Schneider said, “And it doesn’t have to be women, and they don’t have to know about gardening.” 

The club is a way to learn about gardening, and specifically about Florida gardening, which many newcomers to the area might not know much about. 

The club organizes field trips. Members have visited nearby attractions like Spanish Point and the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature. They’ve also traveled further away to Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg and Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales.

“We don’t have as big of a group as other clubs, and we don’t have our own facility,” Schneider said. “We’re small but mighty.”