A T-shirt design contest for a Newtown gardening group evolved into a fundraiser for the town’s food pantry. The effort resulted in a donation last week of $1,100 to FAITH Food Pantry.

As part of their four-year anniversary, Gardeners of Newtown decided it was time they had a logo and T-shirt. A T-Shirt committee comprised of Elia Biancardi, Julia Sikes-Provey, Sue Vogelman and Chloë Bowers designed the logo with the Newtown town seal in mind. Newtown artist Provey then hand painted the logo.

The logo was introduced to the group by early September.

With assistance from John and Stacy Celli, owners of Newtown Apparel, T-shirts were produced and made available online and at Newtown Arts Festival in mid-September. The sale was a huge success, with 86 shirts sold and $500 raised. The Cellis also donated $50 toward the fundraiser.

After Biancardi announced the results of the fundraiser to the group, one member who wished to remain anonymous stepped forward and matched the $550, raising the total to $1,100.

“The member did not want to be identified,” according to Giancardi, a co-founder of Gardeners of Newtown. “Her wish was to simply match the generosity and spirit of giving exemplified by Gardeners of Newtown.”

Club members, Biancardi explained, had three locations to choose from when it was time to determine where the funds would go.

“The food pantry was an overwhelming choice,” Biancardi said. “I actually called it early, it was such a landslide.”

As volunteers worked around them, unpacking the latest nonperishable donations in one room from preparing other items for distribution that morning, Biancardi and Bowers both appeared to be in awe of the work done.

“I had no idea it would be so busy,” Biancardi said. After accepting the donation on behalf of the pantry, FFP President Lee Paulsen answered additional questions.

Founded in February 2018 by Biancardi and Kitti Deak, Gardeners of Newtown was created as a way for like-minded gardeners to discuss and share everything plant-related. The Facebook-based group started with a handful of plant lovers, and four years later has become the largest gardening group in Newtown with over 850 members.

“There is a lot of social interaction via Facebook,” Biancardi said December 6. He and Chloë Bowers visited the food pantry that morning to formally hand off the Gardeners of Newtown donation. “There’s really a little bit of everything. Anything you enjoy garden-related is welcome.”

Recent posts include members offering a spare copy of The Whole Seed Catalog, sharing garden-event information, and plenty of photos of their successes and failures.

Gardeners of Newtown also sponsors events ranging from private garden tours and foraging hikes to native plant identification and conservation. Each March over 300 packets of seeds are distributed to group members with any excess seeds donated to the C.H. Booth Library Seed Bank.

The group is limited to Newtown residents only. To join, search Facebook for Gardeners of Newtown and request to join the group.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.