The Rose Garden Endowment was established as part of the
Maricopa College Foundation to encourage tax deductible
donations
so that the interest could be used to insure perpetual
care for the award-winning MCC Rose Garden.
In the first eight years of the Rose Garden's existence,
all the landscape design of the rose garden and beds has
been
donated. In addition, volunteer labor to plant, prune,
mulch, and deadhead the spent blooms has been heavily relied
on.
Many rose bushes and mulch have also been donated as has
other in-kind donations to help build the patios.
With all this help, the Garden expanded from the East
Garden (which began with 200 donated roses from Jackson
Perkins), to the West Garden, then two All-American-Rose-Selection
Test Gardens, next the soon-to-be-completed Veteran's
Garden, and now the final Garden--an Award of Excellence
test garden for miniature roses. Soon there will be over
6000 rose
bushes in the Garden. Volunteer labor to care for all these
is already stretched very thin.
The MCC Rose Garden is one of the top public rose gardens
in the country. To insure the continuance of its award-
winning maintenance, we must not only continue our volunteer
involvement but also provide funds to hire people to help
in
what could become an overwhelming task for volunteers alone.
The near-term goal is to raise $ 500,000 to fund the Rose
Garden Endowment. Only the interest will be used so the
principal will be there to insure the Rose Garden's life
in perpetuity. The ultimate goal is to raise $1,000,000
for the
Foundation.
To help insure that MCC will always have a beautiful rose
garden, send your tax-deductible donation to:
Maricopa College Foundation--Rose Garden Endowment
DEB DEVORE
Mesa Community College
(480) 461-7356
1833 W. Southern Avenue
Mesa, AZ 85202
email: deb.devore@mcmail.maricopa.edu