Friends of the Arboretum Year Ahead
Dear Friends,
With the changing of the calendar to 2023 comes exciting changes to the Advisory Board with the addition of 5 new Advisory Board members and a wonderful line-up of events for children, families, and a date night or two!
Before we tease what is coming up, we ended 2022 in a wonderful financial position thanks to sellout crowds at the Luminary Walk/Candlelight Stroll, Terra Luna, and Enchanted Faire. Our Wine Tastings and Biergarten Thursdays also did not disappoint with a sellout of 12 evenings! A special thank-you to our members (new and returning), countless volunteers (over 800 of you) who lead our events and planning teams, greet, plant, guide, direct and build, as well as the wonderful help and support of the Arboretum staff for helping to make this past year a success.
The financial success of our fundraising activities allowed us to deliver over $150,000 in grants that support adult and children programing at the Arboretum as well as a sponsorship for the upcoming International Master Gardeners Conference in June. In addition, we made an $800,000 payment for the construction of LongHouse. To date, we have paid $2.25MM against our $3.21 grant commitment for this exciting new addition to the Gardens. We also continued to provide critical funding for the upkeep/maintenance of our commemorative gifts.
As we look to 2023, I welcome the newest members of the Advisory Board: Brandon Geistdoerfer-Munger, Matt Burleigh and John Peterson and returning to the board after a brief respite are Irene Parsons and Todd Denmark! I am excited and grateful for each of you to join our ranks, and I thank you in advance for your commitment of time and talent. For the members of the Advisory Board who are continuing in your service, a heartfelt thank you for your confidence and support. I thank you for your leadership across all of our events as well as the breadth of committees that you lead and support. To the full team, I am looking forward to ‘digging in’ and working alongside each of you and leveraging the diversity of experience that you each bring.
For all our FOTA membership, there are many ways for you to be involved and to stay up to date on happenings at the Arboretum. They include:
Events and Programing
Check out our Events Calendar and start filling in your calendar. Our annual Spring Plant Sale is slated to begin April 27 and join us for our first Wine Tasting on the Terrace event of the year on May 11 as well as many more fun activities!
News From the Gardens
Stay current on the latest Arboretum news by following us on our social channels. And don’t forget to share our content so your friends, family and neighbors can learn about ways to enjoy the many aspects of the Arboretum.
Volunteer
There are so numerous ways to share your time and talents at the Arboretum. If volunteering is on your New Year’s list of resolutions, please contact us by email.
Let Me Know What’s On Your Mind
Lastly, I want to hear from you. Please send me an email with your thoughts and ideas about our events and programing and let me know how we are doing.
On behalf of the Friends of the Arboretum, I wish you and your family a happy New Year and all the very best in 2023!
Carlos E. Corredor
Chair of the FOTA Advisory Board