The Marine Hills Garden Club (MHGC) continued their tradition of spreading love to the young and old through plants this year.

Members of the MHGC delivered 49 festive arrangements on Dec. 9 to the Life Care Center and to the Brookdale Foundation House in Federal Way.

Debbie Angel of the MHGC told the Mirror that in addition to the floral arrangements, they bought Secret Santa gifts to fulfill the wish lists of two men and two women at Life Care Center. They also provided additional gift bags for 11 other residents with toiletries, treats, puzzles, art supplies, calendars, cards and blankets.

The club has been putting together floral arrangements for over a decade. Angel said she joined the club in about 2007 and believes they’ve been doing them the majority of that time. The Secret Santa addition at Life Care started in 2021 in partnership with activities director Rachel O’Reilly after they had done it for a few years at another location.

Many seniors don’t have loved ones to spend the holidays with or to receive gifts from, so sharing these gifts and floral arrangements is a way to ensure that more people in the community have an opportunity to enjoy and participate in the holidays.

“We have also been providing floral arrangement for the Life Care Center each week for many years. All these efforts are inspiring, as we hope they brighten the lives of the residents,” Angel said.

Radhika Kumar is another member of MHGC and said one special memory for her was getting gifts for a woman from Quebec last year. The woman asked for a doll and some French items. “She cried over the French books a member got her and the photos of Quebec my neighbor gave her,” Kumar shared. They also gave her a fabric poster of the Eiffel Tower that they found at a quilt store in Richland.

Kumar told the Mirror that it was meaningful that “the club revived recollections and gave her a sense of home.”

To make the bouquets happen this year, Angel said, “we had a program about making these types of arrangements in October, which we hoped would get more members to participate. We were happy to reach our goal of number of arrangements delivered.”

One surprising holiday helper was dog Jaxson, who “was big hit. Everyone wanted photos with him,” Angel said.

The MHGC is already looking ahead to Valentine’s Day when they will deliver floral arrangements to the Life Care Center and the Brookdale Foundation House in Federal Way again.

Marine Hills Garden Club is located in Federal Way and is a member of the Chinook District of garden clubs.

“We have different types of programs at our monthly meetings, such as horticulture topics, floral design, sustainability and environmental topics,” Angel told the Mirror.

Meetings are at 5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month from September through May in the main activity room at The Brookdale Foundation House, 32290 1st Ave. South in Federal Way. January’s meeting is via Zoom due to typical bad weather, Angel said.

Next up will be the club’s annual book drive for FWPS and Olympic View K-8 School in March 2025, to coincide with and to celebrate National Reading Month.

Kumar said they’ve done this book drive for several years, but this is the first time they will be doing it in March.

After that for MHGC will be their annual spring plant sale that will take place on April 25 and April 26. The proceeds from this will help them fund their community service projects like the floral arrangements and their work with Federal Way Public Schools.

Floral arrangements created by the Marine Hills Garden Club. Photo provided by Debbie Angel

More floral arrangements created by the Marine Hills Garden Club. Photo provided by Debbie Angel

Greenery, festive leaves and holiday themed mugs come together to create holiday spirit in these floral arrangements created by the Marine Hills Garden Club. Photo provided by Debbie Angel

Each floral arrangement had its’ unique holiday elements, made to bring some joy to seniors this season from the Marine Hills Garden Club. Photo provided by Debbie Angel

Maxine Ranta and her dog Jaxson accompanied the Marine Hills Garden Club members to deliver gifts and floral arrangements this holiday season. Photo provided by Debbie Angel

Secret Santa is just one more way that the Marine Hills Garden Club gives back to the community. Photo provided by Debbie Angel