Cherokee Garden Club

By Anne Mori, 2025 President, Cherokee Garden Club

The Cherokee Garden Club Community Fund was established in 2008 with a mission to “protect, improve and restore the environment of the surrounding community through programs and actions in the field of education and conservation.”

Through the fund, we have awarded grants to Skyland Trail almost every year since 2012. The relationship started with one of our long-time members Virginia Almand. Virginia volunteered with Skyland Trail horticultural therapy programs for 10 years.

Our Community Fund has helped establish several unique and interactive garden spaces at adult campuses and, more recently, at the adolescent campus. Grant funding helped restore and improve The 12 Places of Pause Recovery Trail at the adult campus, providing a nature-based support for clients working through a 12-step program. Funding at the J. Rex Fuqua Campus for adolescents established native plant gardens and spaces for teens to grow vegetables and flowers.

As a garden club, we believe there is a strong connection between spending time in nature and mental health. Recent research supports this idea. Gardening, walking in parks, and even sitting outside on a bench in nature all contribute to a sense of well-being.

Cherokee members are well-acquainted with the amazing work Skyland Trail does in our community, and we want to contribute to both the organization’s success and each client’s recovery. From buds blooming in spring to planted seeds that mature into plants, the natural world symbolizes hope, just as a client’s treatment at Skyland Trail offers them hope for recovery.