Marilyn Krueger is grateful for her growing grandsons, armed and dangerous!
2025 is going to be my year of gratitude. As I write this column the week before Christmas, I can only anticipate the gratitude I will feel having both of my sons and their families home for Christmas.
In December, the Naperville Garden Club hosted our major fundraiser, the Cup of Cheer™ Home Tour, Holiday Market and Tea. Many thanks to all who attended and to everyone – members and friends – who helped make our event so enjoyable and profitable. Because of this success, the Naperville Garden Club is able to plant trees and perennials around our community, educate the public with various programs on conservation, environmental responsibility, floral design, etc. and provide scholarships to local students.
I am grateful to our high schools for teaching our students to care about our communities and that they can make a difference. Our scholarship program helps students earn degrees in areas that reflect the interests of our club such as biology, conservation, environmental science and horticulture. Through the marvels of Facebook and LinkedIn, it’s possible to follow some of our recipients and to rejoice at how they are making the world a better place.
At our recent Cup of Cheer™, a mother of one of our past recipients stopped by the raffle section to tell me how her son is doing. He is back in the Naperville area and principal of a well-known landscape design firm. As scholarship chairman, I have the privilege of reviewing the studies, progress and plans for the future of the applicants. Students may apply at any time as they progress towards a degree. Most often they begin as graduating high school seniors, but sometimes a student may change his/her major or hear about our scholarship program after college studies have begun. The future is in good hands and I am thankful for these students.
I am full of gratitude that my family and I have been blessed to live and grow in the Naperville community. In looking for a Christmas Eve service to attend with my grandchildren who are being raised in a different faith, I asked several people if my mixed-religion family would be welcome in their church. It was heartwarming to hear, “Of course! We’d love to have you!”
And so it goes. When people of our community are looking for a club to join, an activity to participate in or something to do, most of the time the answer is, “Join us! We would love to get to know you! We need your help!”
Please join me in making 2025 the “Year of Gratitude.” And step out of your comfort zone just a little bit to discover something new in this place we call “Home.”
Scholarship applications are on our website www.napervillegrdenclub.org. All materials are due April 1, 2025.
