Local Garden Clubs Help North Oaks “Deck the Halls”

Six local garden clubs and the Hammond Junior High School Better Girls Club have continued a 6-year partnership with North Oaks by trimming Christmas trees located in lobbies of health system facilities for the enjoyment of patients and visitors.

Over hot chocolate and cookies, members of each of the garden clubs gather on designated days to give of their time and talents to trim their assigned tree with ornaments they selected. The tree locations are rotated each holiday season and the ornaments freshened. “This community partnership succeeds in bringing the spirit of the holidays to our patients and visitors through the talents of our local Garden Clubs,” affirms North Oaks Marketing Assistant and project organizer Suzanne Vidrine Moore. “It is a privilege to work with these Garden Clubs to bring this lovely collection of Christmas trees to our community.”

Participating organizations include: Belle Oaks Garden Club, Carnation Garden Club, Garden Club of Walker, Hammond Garden Club, Ponchatoula Community Garden Club and Ponchatoula Gardenettes. The Hammond Junior High School Better Girls Club trimmed the Emergency Department Christmas tree on behalf of the Carnation Garden Club.

To see the trees, please visit the lobbies of North Oaks Diagnostic Center, North Oaks Office Plaza, North Oaks Outpatient Rehabilitation Services Clinic, the North Oaks Medical Center Signature Building and Emergency Department—all in Hammond, as well as the North Oaks Walk-In Clinic in Walker. The trees will remain up until Friday, January 5, 2005.

Belle Oaks Garden Club members decorate the Christmas tree, located in the lobby of the Hammond Professional Park Building where North Oaks Outpatient Rehabilitation Services Clinic is located, on Tuesday, November 28. Poinsettias, birds and berries carry out the tree theme. Pictured, from left, are club members Ida Baxter, Maude Abadie, Diane Batusic, Ruth Dugas, Jane Wainwright, Stephanie and Nicholas Bartee and Pauline Dvornak.

Twenty-eight members of the Hammond Junior High School Better Girls Club, along with club sponsors Shavette Holland (far left) and Tamara Whittington (far right), decorate the Christmas tree in the lobby of the North Oaks Medical Center Emergency Department on Friday, December 1 on the behalf of Carnation Garden Club. The Better Girls selected Santa, penguin and snowman ornaments.

Garden Club of Walker members, from left, Ann Smith, Linda Clark, Andrea Stafford, Suzanne Howze, Kay Palmer and Barbara Brown decorate the North Oaks Walk-In Clinic in Walker Christmas tree on Monday, November 28. Red and white ribbons, Santa Claus ornaments and candy canes adorn the tree. Club members also designed a wreath on display in the lobby of North Oaks Specialty Clinic in Walker. Both clinics are located in Southside Plaza next to Wal-Mart.

A patriotic theme was crafted by Ponchatoula Community Garden Club members, from left, Gloria McCarthy, Peggy Avery, Ellen Pusey, Lois Newman Drury for the North Oaks Medical Center Signature Building lobby Christmas tree. Club members trimmed the tree with red, white and blue ribbon, angels and gold stars on Thursday, November 30.

Berries, birds and poinsettias carry out the mauve- and gold-toned color palette of the Hammond Garden Club Christmas tree on display in the first floor lobby of North Oaks Office Plaza. Club members participating in the tree trimming on Wednesday, November 29 include: (kneeling, from left) Sylvia Dileo, Louise O’Sullivan, Linda Clark, Gail Diebold, (standing, from left) Phyllis diBenedetto, Melanie Stein, Juanita Pearson, Vera Garafola and Helen Tallo.

From left, Ponchatoula Gardenettes Mona Middlebrook, Kathy Bedenbaugh, Patty Mullins, Robin Austin, Cheryl Kuhn, Janice Hickey and Louise Steadman use jewel-toned bulbs and gold ribbon to trim the 12-foot Christmas tree in the lobby of North Oaks Diagnostic Center on Wednesday, November 29.