Porch Club survives COVID and continues to thrive
Their group began in 1890 as a book club of sorts, but the Porch Club of Riverton looks very different now.
The organization’s original female members focused on politics, religion and world history while playing a role in the women’s suffrage movement of the 1920s, according to club chair Pat Brunker.
The Porch Club is now a nonprofit charity aligned with the Federated Women’s Clubs of New Jersey and its national parent organization. Among its events is a biennial garden tour fundraiser in Riverton that this year begins Friday, May 19, and will feature nine gardens.
While Brunker and club co-chair Debora Patras said COVID cast a cloud on the 133-year-old organization, they saw a sign of renewed hope when people showed up in droves for the 2021 garden tour.
Now it continues to thrive.
Patras said one of the biggest motivators for the “massive turnout” two years ago was the result of people anxious to be anywhere but stuck in their homes.
“People just wanted something fresh and beautiful and to get out,” she noted.
At the heart of the garden tour fundraising campaign is the host of charities that benefit from the community’s generosity, including the Emmanuel Cancer Foundation, the club’s central project for the last two years; the Ronald McDonald House in Camden; and American Hospice.
The Porch Club also uses some donations to help support its building fund.
“It’s a ways and means fundraiser,” Brunker explained “which helps support the Porch Club while indirectly supporting all of the charities that we give to and support during the year.”
Porch Club tour hours will be 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 19 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 20. The latter will feature a buffet lunch at $39 a person from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the club, 213 Howard St.
Tickets for the garden tours are $20 and can be had by visiting theporchclub.org or buying at the following Riverton businesses: New Leaf Tea Room, 606 Main St.; Home Off Main, 523 Howard St.; and Tillie’s Trinkets, 304 Broad St. Tickets are also available at Fresh Produce of Palmyra, 427 W. Broad St.
