Plants and Pots Fundraiser
for World Central Kitchen
June 15th, 2024
Short Hills, NJ
The Plants and Pots fundraiser came together as a result of a chance meeting between two Millburn neighbors- the incredibly talented artist Dr. Reema Jaffar and the founder of Unite4Earth and active co-founder and member of Millburn for Climate Action volunteer group, Vanita Gangwal. Reema, along with other local artists, had painted beautiful Mill Wheels for two local organizations -MoMaSH (Muslims of Millburn and Short Hills) and Millburn for Climate Action. These Mill Wheels were sponsored by Millburn Township for Millburn Founding Day celebrations to capture the incredible diversity and community spirit of our town.
As Reema and Vanita enjoyed the lively Founding Day celebrations on a beautiful spring day in Taylor Park, they were not oblivious to strife around the world, particularly the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. Both of them felt a strong desire to show their support for peace and the victims of war. This conversation sparked the idea for a Plants and Pots fundraiser for World Central Kitchen (WCK), an organization that serves meals in war and disaster zones. Reema offered to use her artistic skills to paint pots on behalf of the local Muslims of Millburn and Short Hills (MoMASH) community of over 200 people, who stand unequivocally for peace, inclusion and unity. Vanita, an avid gardener, was happy to use her green thumb for this Fundraiser and tap into the amazing Millburn Community for support.
In keeping with the sustainability ethos of recycle and upcyle, Vanita put a call out to the Millburn community to donate pre-used pots and plant cuttings. Many pre-used pots for the fundraiser were generously donated by one anonymous Millburn resident and several others brought the few extras they had laying around their homes. Reema hand-painted over 50 of these pots, featuring motifs from Turkish, Oriental, Native American, Madhubani, and other artistic traditions. Kavitha Kalyanasundaram contributed hand-painted upcycled bottles, a product of her COVID hobby transforming waste into beautiful pieces of art.
Plant cuttings were contributed by many Millburn community members, including Anjali Katoch, Garima Chugh, Nadia Halim, Odarka Polanskyi Stockert, Pallavi Verma, Radhika Iyengar, Sonika Gupta, as well as Maplewood Gardening Club.
Vanita potted all the beautifully painted pots and bottles with plant cuttings, and voila, Unite4Earth was ready for its first fundraiser and community-building event. On a beautiful weekend morning in June, several people from Millburn gathered at Vanita's home to share a hearty breakfast and buy these pots and plants to raise funds for the World Central Kitchen. Thanks to the enthusiastic support from everyone involved, Unite4Earth was able to donate $2,000 to WCK. More importantly, this small effort helped bring together people representing different communities in Millburn, reinforcing the message that we have far more in common than what divides us, and that we stand stronger together!
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