Marian University’s Friends of Riverdale wants to raise $1.5 million to restore a portion of Jens Jensen’s landscape at Allison Mansion, including rebuilding the colonnade and arbor.
Photo courtesy Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf/Marian University
We all know about Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, but have you heard about Giving Tuesday? This year it’s Nov. 29.
With the holidays coming sooner rather than later, here’s a way to celebrate by giving to non-profit organizations that support gardening, nature, historical landscapes and flowers.
Indiana Landmarks’ Cultural Landscape Committee identifies, catalogues and helps promote the state’s significant landscapes, such as George Kessler’s boulevard, parkways and parks; landscape architect’s Dan Kiley’s designs in Fort Wayne and Columbus, the Olmsted Brothers’-designed gardens on the IUPUI campus and at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Donations can be made to Indiana Landmarks Cultural Landscape Committee, 1201 N. Central Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46202, or online. In the online comments section, write Cultural Landscape Committee.
Native plant enthusiasts can share the love with Letha’s Youth Outdoors Fund, which is part of the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society, or INPAWS. The fund aims to get school-age children in touch with nature, especially those with the least access to experiences in natural areas. Grants pay transportation and naturalists’ fees for visits to Indiana’s wild places and fund youth-initiated projects that get kids excited about the natural world.
The fund honors Letha Queisser, who died in 2007. For more than 20 years, the trained botanist and avid wildflower fan took neighborhood children on nature walks to a nearby Indianapolis park. Since the fund was founded in 2008, more than $40,000 in grants have been awarded, enabling nearly 12,000 youth to visit environmental education centers, nature preserves and parks under the guidance of trained specialists and enthusiastic volunteers. Donate online, or mail a check to INPAWS, Attention: Letha’s Fund, P.O. Box 501528, Indianapolis, IN 46250.
Marian University’s Friends of Riverdale is raising $1.5 million to restore the Jens Jensen-designed colonnade and arbor near Allison Mansion. The university never had the funds to replace these Riverdale features because the base of the structure needs to be reinforce to support the columns, plus the weight of the arbor and plants.
To donate, go to marian.edu and click on Give Now. The colonnade is not a listed project, but donors can choose “other” and write in the comments “colonnade.” Or, send a check with colonnade in the memo to Deb Lawrence, Marian University, 3200 Cold Springs Road, Indianapolis, IN 46222,
Random Acts of Flowers opened in October in Indianapolis, one of five centers in the country. It recycles flowers from weddings, funerals and other events. The goal is to improve the emotional health and well being of individuals in health care facilities by delivering recycled flowers, encouragement and personal moments of kindness. For details on donations of vases, flowers or money, visit randomactsofflowers.org.
Thanks for promoting these good causes, and especially Letha’s Youth Outdoors Fund, which is raising up the next generation of stewards of the land.