By Carol Mowdy Bond
Contributing Writer
The Surrey Hills Home and Garden Club has been all but dormant due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But on March 27, members of the University of Central Oklahoma Delta Chi chapter of Sigma Kappa sorority helped the club members get back into the dirt by leaving notes on 1900 front door handles. And the home and garden club announced its first meeting of the year will be held April 12, and announced the first bake sale date of the year.
UCO has an annual Big Event Day where students volunteer for community service projects. This year, 18 Sigma Kappa members rolled out of bed early on a Saturday morning to canvas the Surrey Hills neighborhoods.
Mary Garrett, vice president and treasurer for the home and garden club, said, “Although our club is about both home and garden, today we are asking for gardening donations. We have letters and they are in clear bags. The letters tell about our club and ask for donations. With the help of university student volunteers, our club members are putting the bags on people’s front door handles. We ask our neighbors for donations to buy flowers, and pay for mowing and trimming of the entire Surrey Hills Boulevard entrance to our addition, and watering the entire boulevard. Years ago we learned that UCO has an annual Big Event Day, when their students perform volunteer work for community service projects. Today we are canvassing the original Surrey Hills, The Fairways at Surrey Hills, South Fork at Surrey Hills, The Meadows at Surrey Hills, and Summerhill Meadows at Surrey Hills. We have nine routes, with two girls on each route.”
Machelle Heffron, president of the home and garden club, said, “100% of the donations go to beautifying the boulevard. And we also do two bake sales annually. Our next bake sale will be in conjunction with the Surrey Hills-wide garage sale, to be April 23 through 24.
That bake sale will be held at the home of Nancy Atha, at 11709 N.W. 114th Street in The Fairways. We’ll have signs out that day, so people will know where to find our bake sale.”
This is the first time the UCO Delta Chi chapter of Sigma Kappa sorority members have volunteered to help the Surrey Hills Home and Garden Club for UCO’s Big Event Day. In 2019, they served food at a food bank. And in 2020, they painted a building.
After helping the home and garden club, each sorority volunteer received a goodie bag containing homemade cookies baked by the home and garden club members.
Starting spring 2020, the pandemic shut down all of the home and garden club’s plans. But the club will start meeting again this April.
The club currently has about 30 members, but they’re looking to recruit more.
Garrett said, “We’re only going to meet during warm weather months, so we can meet outside. Our first meeting will be on April 12 at noon, in my backyard, and lunch will be part of the event. Our club isn’t just about gardening. It’s also about homes.
We have a program and a speaker each time we meet. And we have programs for non-gardeners.”
To connect with the Surrey Hills Home and Garden Club, contact Mary Garrett at (405) 373-2906. You may also follow the club on their Facebook page Surrey Hills Home and Garden Club, and the Facebook pages for Surrey Hills Neighbors.
