Garden Club awards given

Dinh Victoria Minchau from Bear Creek High School and Michael Anthony Fuso from Lodi High School have been awarded $500 college acholarships by the Lodi Garden Club.

The honored students, presented by Scholarship Chairmain Carol Marvel, spoke of their interests and college plans and thanked the club for its help.

Club members Hilda Equitz, Laura Ahern, and Ruth Miller received 20-year membership certificates.

Carol Denton, Nancy Gillaspy, and this year’s board were recognized for their work by donations from the club to the Penny Pines reforestation project. Each donation of $68 goes toward preparing plantation sites for new trees or for planting seedlings grown in forest service nurseries. To date, garden clubs in California have donated millions of seedlings, and thousands of acres of national forest land have been replanted. Penny Pines plantations are important for watershed protection, soil stabilization and shade for recreation areas.

Beautification awards for their work in maintaining gardens at Lodi Lake, Loel Center, Hutchins Street Square, and Micke Grove were given to Olvia Bitz, Christine Hamilton, Hilda Equitz, Shirley Sullivan, Marcia Griffith, Neva Goodwin, Diane Burkett, Luella Severson, Kay Faria, Betty Pfeifle, Arilee Pollard, Esther Milnes, Esther Kreth, and Aiko Hayashi. Husbands Peter Burkett and Ramer Pfeifle were acknowledged, also.