Many of you have been wondering if our fundraiser with Glenlea Greenhouse will be continued this year. We feel in these uncertain times it gives us all the more reason to go ahead so our 2020 SPRING FUNDRAISER THROUGH GLENLEA GREENHOUSE IS IN FULL GEAR!! I don’t know about you but looking forward to the coming gardening year has been keeping my frame of mind on an even keel. Please be advised that the deadline has been moved up to May 1^st. We have been looking into a new drop off location and will be letting you know where to pick up your order.
Follow the link below to pre-order from Glenlea Greenhouse. Deadline is May 1^st..  Please select St. James Horticultural Society and delivery date from the DROP DOWN menu in your shopping card before checkout

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Following is copy of a letter we received from Glenlea.
 
To our loyal coordinators
Brenda Lucas
St. James Horticultural Society

It is amazing how even in a time of social isolation and distancing how much our communities are joining together to spread their love for small local businesses! This includes you as well. Your fundraiser is being used to help enrich the community you are in, whether it’s to help fund the new jerseys for the local sports team; provide new toys and field trips for the local daycare and school; to even donating the funds to a local charity. You need to remind your customers that you need them now more than ever! 

With the recent changes that have been happening and the closure of schools and public spaces you are probably concerned with the ongoing fundraiser program. We want to reassure you that even though every day life has come to a complete standstill that spring has not been cancelled at the greenhouse. Every day in the greenhouse brings new flowers that are blooming, and seeds are being sown daily to ensure that we will be ready for when your delivery day comes.

As a family run business, the health and safety of our staff and customers is our number one priority; especially now more than ever. We are taking every precaution to ensure that we are adhering to the government regulations regarding personal safety. This means allowing for the minimum of 6 foot space between coworkers, sanitizing throughout the day and limiting our exposure to the public. This means that our doors are temporarily closed to customers that want to browse our products. Our staff are like our family and we want to make sure that everyone goes home at the end of the day healthy and happy.

The Governments have stated that greenhouses are part of the essential services of the community. This means that we are still working hard to make sure that we will be ready for spring. Gardening is a great way to spend time with your family outside and use it as a practical learning opportunity as to where their food comes from, and how to care and nurture a living thing. Gardening is also a great way to get exercise in your own back yard and it can be beneficial to your mental health as well by giving you the pride and satisfaction that you grew your own food, or successfully maintained your flowers all summer long. Many of the plants we offer are excellent for beginner gardeners, and we are always going to be there to offer advice over the phone or online.

We understand that many customers are worried that we will not have the product available to ship once their delivery day comes. THIS IS NOT TRUE. We grow all the plants on the fundraiser in house so the availability you see online will be fulfilled. We don’t source finished product from other greenhouses like the big box stores do. Everything we grow we start from seedlings, plugs or roots that are already currently growing under our care.
 
Many garden centers in the southern regions of the United States are just starting to figure out the online ordering with curbside pick up and delivery options as spring has already sprung there. This has been something we have been excelling at for years! Use this as a way to market to your customers that they don’t have to spend time going to garden centers or big box stores to get their plants. By ordering online and picking up from a place in their community they limit their exposure to the public because their order is sorted and ready to go.

We understand that with the closure of schools and public spaces that it may be difficult to get the paper orders in at this time. We strongly encourage you to inform your group about our secure online shopping experience with the added ability to pay via e-transfer. Due to the unknown quantities of plants that are being ordered via paper orders we do have to keep this deadline firm (April 18^th).  However, we have extended the online order deadline to May 1^st. Your delivery dates have not changed; however, the delivery of the plant gift cards may have to be changed due to the closure of drop off locations. We are considering many options currently however this is still many weeks away.

It is amazing how quickly things can change in the world which is why we have to keep reminding ourselves that spring is still coming and that it isn’t going to wait (though some days we feel as though it’s never going to warm up). Remember, Mother’s Day is still 6 weeks away, the May Long Weekend is 7 weeks away and our busiest shipping weeks are 8 to 10 weeks away. With what is happening now this is lots of time considering what can happen in just 10 days.
 
We want to thank you for continuing to provide the fundraiser to your customers as many still want to support your group during this time. We need to remind everyone that we will get through this and that spring isn’t cancelled!
 
From the Glenlea Greenhouses’ family to yours,
Stay Home, Stay Safe and Stay Healthy
 
Rob, Sue, Arielle and Heather