Jessica Mendoza and Chris Raborn met in 2021.  The pandemic was at its height when Chris delivered a potted plant from the Wiltondale Garden Club’s plant sale.  The two connected on Jessica’s porch. 

Now, three years later, Chris and Jessica are leading a partnership between NeighborSpace and the Wiltondale Garden Club to provide ongoing volunteer maintenance and financial support at Adelaide Bentley Park in historic East Towson.

When they met, Chris, a third-generation member of the garden club, had been involved for over 20 years.  Jessica had recently become engaged with the East Towson Lynching Memorial Project where she met Nancy Goldring.

Nancy, a current NeighborSpace board member, is a leader in preserving and sharing the history of East Towson, Baltimore County’s oldest African American community.  Adelaide Bentley Park was named in honor of Nancy’s grandmother who was known as the unofficial mayor of East Towson.  Ms. Bentley dedicated her life to building community and preserving the history of East Towson.

While sharing donuts in Jessica’s backyard, Chris, Jessica, and Nancy uncovered a common interest in Adelaide Bentley Park and the idea of an ongoing partnership was born.

This year the Wiltondale Garden Club has committed to hosting garden work days at the park twice a month.  They began in April and will continue hosting work days through November.

At Adelaide Bentley, the garden club is working on planting raised garden beds, removing invasive plants, and doing ongoing maintenance to make the garden inviting to community visitors.  Jessica and Chris like that they and other club members can come back to the same space throughout a season to witness changes over time.  Members can get to know the garden and the ongoing projects.  The hope is that volunteers will get to know the space and feel comfortable visiting independently.

Club members are also interested in learning more about community open spaces and identifying native and non-native invasive plants.  Jessica and Chris believe a hands-on approach is the best way to learn.

Chris, who has been Wiltondale Garden Club’s president since 2017, says the partnership with Adelaide Bentley Park is part of the club’s shift in recent years to doing more social and charitable work in the local community.

Since its founding in 1957, the garden club has been a social group with a focus on very local projects.  Some founding members are still active in the club today.  A 501c(3) organization, the club’s activities are funded by member contributions and two plant sales a year, one in the fall and one in the spring. In addition to their volunteer work at Adelaide Bentley Park, Wiltondale also hosts horticultural therapy events, maintains the planters outside of Towson library, and volunteers regularly at Radebaugh Park.  You can read more about the Wiltondale Garden Club’s history and current projects on their website: https://wiltondalegardenclub.com/.