On Friday, May 7 the Manchester Woman’s Club will host a very special dedication locally in honor of the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) of the North Shore.
The club, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, will be honoring its ties to nursing, history and community service by dedicating and planting a beautiful ornamental tree, said to be a dogwood, at the Trask house in Manchester. A brass plaque will be placed to highlight Manchester’s gratitude to the VNA for the work they do in service to us all and has so selflessly continues.
The Manchester Woman’s Club is one of the oldest continuing Woman’s Clubs in North America, with traditions of community service, kindness and assistance to others in need. In 1910 the Woman’s Club established, funded and supported one of the very first Visiting Nurse Agencies, which later evolved into VNA of the North Shore, and now VNA Care Network and Hospice which currently serves hundreds of towns. The Woman’s Club maintains ties with the VNA to this day as part of the VNA Community Cabinet.
The tree planting is made possible by a company serving our town and well deserving of recognition. Bartlett Tree Experts tends to the care of the giant fir on our Town Common, and also illuminates the tree annually for the Holiday lighting of the Friendship Tree, in conjunction with the Woman’s Club who sponsors the lighting, hanging of the wreaths, and decorating of the fountain.
Mr. Jack Ingram, of Bartlett Tree was inspired by the work of the Manchester Woman’s Club in the coordination of this event, and in December informed the Woman’s Club that Bartlett wanted to “give back”. He gifted the Club with a tree to honor whomever they felt it should be dedicated to be planted in a location of their choosing. The Manchester Woman’s Club Board decided to honor the club’s ties to the VNA, and the work of nurses during the pandemic, and to mark forever the work of our early Woman’s Club members.
The tree will be planted by Bartlett Tree at the Manchester Historical Museum beside the early restored Manchester Bath House. It will be a beautiful commemoration of Manchester Woman’s Club’s early role in starting the VNA, the service of the VNA Care Network and Hospice then and now, and the dedication of nurses everywhere. As with the Friendship Tree, this tree at the Trask House will be a gracious and permanent “thank you” and acknowledgement of our ties to the past, to the community and to service to others, as well as a gift to the future generation for years to come.
