Wakefield Rotary Club Kicks Off Pollinator Garden Project

In early March, Wakefield Rotary Club President Wendy Maguire with members Joie Gerrish and Amy Luckiewicz sowed 30 containers of seeds in recycled milk jugs for their upcoming Pollinator Garden project. The Pollinator Garden will be placed in a location in Wakefield as part of the club’s commitment to environmental work.

In 2020, Rotary International added environmental work to it areas of focus. Through the Rotary Foundation and local clubs, Rotarians are committed to supporting activities that strengthen the conservation and protection of natural resources, advance ecological sustainability, and foster harmony between communities and the environment. Rotary empowers communities to access grants and other resources, embrace local solutions, and spur innovation in an effort to address the causes and reduce the effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

Globally, Rotary supports specific activities to promote environmental health including:

• Protecting and restoring land, coastal, marine, and freshwater resources
• Enhancing the capacity of communities to support natural resource management and conservation
• Supporting sustainable agriculture, fishing, and aquaculture practices
• Addressing the cause of climate change by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases
• Strengthening ecosystems and communities affected by climate change
• Supporting education initiatives that promote behavior that protects the environment
• Advocating for sustainable consumption to build an economy that uses resources more efficiently
• Addressing environmental justice issues and public health concerns

The Wakefield Rotary Club wishes to thank the Rotary Club of Bedford, MA for the inspiration and the Southborough Open Land Foundation which donated the seeds. 59 species were available from Dr. Robert Geager's plant list for at-risk pollinators and the club sowed 28 of those species for this project. Dr. Gaeger, Associate Professor of Biology from UMass Dartmouth, has done extensive research on native pollinator gardens.

About Rotary International & Wakefield Rotary Club

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. There are 1.2 million Rotarians in 160 countries worldwide. The first Rotary Club was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1905 by an attorney named Paul Harris and several of his colleagues. The name “Rotary” was derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among each of the members’ offices. The Rotary motto is “Service above self”. The Wakefield Rotary Club meets each Tuesday at noon at Brightview located at 21 Crescent Street, Wakefield. For more information on the club's initiatives or to join the Wakefield Rotary Club, visit www.wakefieldrotaryclub.org or contact us at wakefieldrotaryclub@yahoo.com.