As a Member of The Garden Club of Virginia

Rivanna Garden Club participates in funding the Garden Club of Virginia’s restoration projects by helping to host Historic Garden Week in Albemarle County / Charlottesville. In rotation with Albemarle and Charlottesville Garden Clubs, Rivanna chairs the tour once every three years and fulfills other roles alternately.  The local tour raises funds each year to assist one of the largest volunteer projects in the country.

Rivanna also participates in GCV’s Conservation Forum and campaigns, education forums, horticulture exhibits, and special projects.

As Citizens of the Charlottesvile / Albemarle Area

Locally, Rivanna’s Ways and Means committee selects projects that are funded by proceeds from a holiday bazaar and other activities. These include:

• Annual interactive projects with residents plus monetary donations:
  • The Blue Ridge House
  • Attention Home
  • The Alternative School
• Youth Conservation Education: Annual scholarships to Nature Camp and ARC camp
• Adoption of a “bio filter” (rainwater retention basin) in Claudius Crozet Park, Crozet, VA, which Rivanna will design, plant, and maintain for three years with Albemarle County’s approval and assistance.
• Members also participated in the Rivanna Conservation Day by helping the Albemarle County riverbank project plant 3,000 trees.
• Monetary awards to projects that are selected annually:
• In 2009 these included:
  • $250 to RGC Conservation Committee to promote conservation and recycling amongst Rivanna’s members
  • $750 to Venable School’s Habitat Fund to continue conservation education , label trees, plant erosion areas, replace birdhouses, expand the butterfly garden, and feed library “pets.”
  • $2,000 to The Shelter for Help in Emergency to help defray the cost of vegetative screening in front of the new facility.
  • $2,000 to the Rivanna Conservation Society  to fund $1,000
  • Purchase of water monitoring kits for use by students on World Monitoring Day, October 17, 2009. Students will test for water quality, pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and clarity.
  • Scholarships for the River Sojourn, during which students monitor water quality and wildlife habitat on an 18 mile stretch of the Rivanna River.