Each year, the East Row Garden Club donates a portion of proceeds from the East Row Garden Walk, its annual fund-raising event, to local charities and the club’s neighborhood garden projects.

Since its inception in 1996, the club has donated more than $10,000 to such organizations as the Buenger Boys & Girls Club, Brighton Center, Inc., Henry Hosea House’s ECHO soup kitchen and Power Pack (formerly the Kids BackPack Program) sponsored by the FreestoreFoodbank and Newport Independent Schools.

2010: In 2010, a donation of $1,046 was made to Brighton Center, Inc. in Newport, which provides programs for individuals and families throughout Northern Kentucky including employment training, youth services, and community, family and child development.

2009: In 2009, the club donated $1,500 to the Henry Hosea House, a non-profit cooperative ecumenical agency that operates ECHO Soup Kitchen for the poor and homeless in Northern Kentucky.

2008: In 2008, $1,214 was donated to the Brighton Center, Inc.  

2007: In 2007, the ERGC donated a check for $1,135 to the Power Pack Program, (originally the Kids BackPack Program), which provides free nutritious and easy-to-prepare meals to low-income Newport students on weekends and holidays. The program in Newport is co-sponsored by the Cincinnati’s FreestoreFoodbank and Newport Independent Schools.

Power Pack started as a pilot program at Fourth Street Elementary in Newport in 2006-2007 with funding through the FreestoreFoodbank. An anonymous donation to the FreestoreFoodbank, along with several donations from organizations like the East Row Garden Club, made it possible to expand the program to all three elementary schools and the middle school. As of April 2009, Power Packs are being distributed weekly to approximately 1,490 children in 34 locations in Kenton and Campbell County, KY and Hamilton and Pike Counties, OH. 2007 Photo: Molly Wesley-Chevalier, from left, a Fourth Street School Family Resource Center coordinator, Kelly Lane and Julie Smith-Morrow, who works at the FreestoreFoodbank, pose with Linda Zacharias and Pam Phillips, both coordinators with the Family Resource Center. (Photo by Bruce Murray, ERGC member)

Photo: Molly Wesley-Chevalier, from left, a Fourth Street School Family Resource Center coordinator, Kelly Lane and Julie Smith-Morrow, who works at the FreestoreFoodbank, pose with Linda Zacharias and Pam Phillips, both coordinators with the Family Resource Center. (Photo by Bruce Murray, ERGC member).

2006: $1,059 to the Buenger Boys & Girls Club, Newport in 2006.

2005: $947was given to Dare to Care Kid’s Café in 2005.

2004: The club made a donation to the Buenger Boys & Girls Club, Newport in 2004.

2003: The club donated $1,825 to Healthy Steps, School-based Treatment Education Prevention for Students, a health clinic for at-risk children who have physical and mental health problems at Newport Independent Schools.

PHOTO CAPTION: Rene McPhedran, 2003 president of the East Row Garden Club, presents a check to a representative of Healthy Steps, a prevention program for students in Newport public schools. (Photo by Bruce Murray)


2002: $687 was donated to the Buenger Boys & Girls Club, Newport.

2001-1998: Monies raised were used toward community beautification projects.

1997: Brighton Center, Inc. co-sponsored the Garden Walk with the club in 1997 and 1998. Approximately $793 was donated to Brighton Center in 1997.