DMF: Civic-Minded Scouts
- Hylton Lonstein | President, Del Mar Foundation
For Your (Succulent, Sustainable) Garden: Throughout the year, the Del Mar Foundation makes grants to benefit our community – and while we are inspired by the work of all of our grant recipients, we may be guilty of having a secret “favorite” this year.
The Bronze Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Junior can earn. To do so, they work as a team to identify and address an issue important to their community. To earn their Bronze Award, local Girl Scout Troops 3917 and 3224 learned that people who garden are happier and less stressed, and then went about creating a Succulent Kiosk for our community.
Within six months, the troops: worked with City staff to identify a location at Civic Center for the kiosk; guided their project through the City approval process and presented their project to the City Council; successfully applied for a DMF grant for project funding; partnered with Del Mar resident Ron Prater for kiosk design and construction; secured support from the Del Mar Garden Club for at least one year; and obtained donations of succulents, soil, and other gardening items from Solana Succulents and Armstrong Garden Center of Del Mar.
This project, which is modeled on the “Little Free Library” concept, enables residents to take succulents from the Kiosk, or bring succulent cuttings to leave in the Kiosk to share with others. The Scouts are responsible for ongoing care for the Kiosk for at least one full year. The ribbon-cutting on June 8 was impressive, fun, and really inspiring.
You’ll find the Kiosk next to the Monarch Butterfly Demonstration Garden, which was installed last year with DMF funding, at the north end of the Civic Center plaza.
Climate Symposium Video: The video of the May 15 Climate Symposium, “The Ocean at Our Doorstep,” funded by a DMF grant to The Coalition for Adapting to Climate Change in Del Mar, is now available online. Watch it on DMF’s website: delmarfoundation.org.