Bella Vista City Guide

VOLUNTEERS continued from page 11 The Bella Vista Wood Carvers Club attracts members who do all kinds of wood crafts, including carving, turning and wood burning. Photo courtesy of Lynn Atkins 12 | 2023 Bella Vista City Guide Bella Vista Wood Carvers Club e Bella Vista Wood Carvers Club has been meeting since 1988. Currently they have about 50 members, President Jean Vinisch said. e pandemic, she said, might have increased membership since some people learned how much they missed groups like the wood carvers. e club doesn't do any fundraising, Vinisch said, but members volunteer their time at events ranging from Arts and Cras festivals to Vacation Bible Schools. ey bring along supplies to teach safe carving practices, oen to children. Recently, they donated a portion of their annual dues to the Children's Shelter and the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. When Riordan Hall closed, the Wood Carvers moved to the Assembly of God Church on Forest Green Blvd., where they hold their biannual "Artistry in Wood Show." ey meet on ursdays at 1 p.m. Bella Vista Garden Club e Bella Vista Garden Club has 110 members and board member Ginny Vance said she thinks their membership was also strengthened by the Covid shut down. It reminded people that they need hobbies like gardening. e Club meets nine times a year — members take July, August and November off. In December the regular meeting is replaced by a Christmas lunch. Speakers are invited to the regular meetings, usually to speak on topics related to gardening. Meetings are held at the Bella Vista Community Church on Lancashire Blvd., on the fourth Wednesday of the month at 10 a.m. e club's largest fundraisers are their two plant sales. In late April, the sale features tomato plants, coleus and zinnias that have been nurtured in one of club's greenhouses located on the property of the wastewater treatment plant. In early June, the perennial sale is scheduled aer Garden Club members have had the chance to separate plants in their home gardens and in their beds at the wastewater plant. Members of the community sometimes call on the club to send volunteers out to help separate plants that will be donated to the group. Several Garden Club members work at the greenhouses year round preparing for the sales, Vance said. Each year there is usually a card party that functions as a fundraiser and oen a bigger event like last year's Garden Tour or the Garden Party fundraiser which was last held in 2018 at Simple Pleasures Event Center. e funds that are raised go to fund scholarships. Recently three scholarships of $4,000 were given to horticulture students in the region. Many of the service projects don't involve any funding, Vance said. e group looks aer gardens at the Bella Vista Cemetery, the Veterans Wall of Honor and the Blue Star Memorial at the Arkansas Welcome Center on Highway 71. Twice a month, members visit Concordia or Brookfield Assisted Living to work with the residents on "garden therapy." If they need plants for those projects, they can usually find them in the greenhouses and beds at the waste water plants. e club also awards a "Garden of the Month" during each warm weather month and sponsors a program on Bella Vista Community Television that is also available on YouTube. eir Facebook page, which Vance administers, received questions from nonmembers and newcomers to the area and each one is answered, she said. e club also has a webpage, https://www.bellavistagardenclub.com/

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