Horticulture spreads holiday cheer with handmade wreaths.
Delta’s Horticulture Club hosted its second annual Wreath Fundraiser. With some variations on last year’s sales tactics, the fundraiser proved successful.
Mirna Juarez, Secretary of the Horticulture Club notes that she is thankful for the support to the program by those who bought wreaths from the club instead of buying them from the chain store.
The designs for the wreaths ranged from small to extra-large and featured “full”, “minimalist,” and “holiday stars.”
Most of the decorations came from materials harvested in the Horticulture demonstration garden on campus.
Pre-orders allowed club members time to customize the wreaths for each buyer, a lesson they learned from last year. Kimberly Valdez, President of Horticulture Club and Advisor Tina Candelo-Mize went back and forth giving each other credit for the idea of allowing customers time to pre-order customizable wreaths. In the end they decided the previous president deserved the glory for saving students time and money.
“I just facilitate them so they can actualize their visions. They put in all the work, they made all the planning, they came up with price points. They purchased our extra little fun stuff and so I just want to make it known so that they get their credit,” said Candelo-Mize.
The wreaths were worked on in Shima and the Greenhouse on campus. Candelo-Mize says the supplies were donated by a Christmas tree lot off of Eight Mile and Lower Sacramento Road, as well as purchased by the students.
The majority of buyers this year and last came from Delta’s faculty, staff and Board of Trustee members. Ed Aguilar and Jim Husting, Laura Ochoa-Sanchez, and Dr. Teresa Brown were all mentioned by the club as notable supporters.
The funds raised from the wreaths will send Horticulture Club students on field trips to Horticultural Expositions and bring guest speakers from the agricultural field to them.
Projects such as the “Veggie Starts” the Spring Fundraiser, and gardening workshops taught by students are next for the Horticulture Club.
“This gives us hands on experience working in the industry and then our field trips give us exposure to industry related things that we probably wouldn’t see normally. Our fundraisers help us pay for those trips to get that exposure that we need. Exposes us to new jobs, research that we haven’t come across,” said Valdez.