Kathleen Britt named Citizen of the Year
Watchung Hills Elks Lodge 885
Kathleen Britt has been a Trustee with Wagner Farm Arboretum (WFA) for the last 5 years and is in her 2nd term as President. One of the many functions of the WFA is maintaining the Community Garden. As the name implies this garden is a place where gardeners gather as a community in a well-managed environment and share their love of gardening by growing their own produce. Kat also oversees The Giving Garden (GG)- this same community of gardener’s volunteer time to grow additional produce for the sole purpose of feeding those in need. Since its inception in 2007, The Giving Garden has produced 586,000 pounds of food for donation. In 2022 alone over 41,000 pounds of produce was raised and distributed to local food banks. Nearly 800K individuals benefited from these donations. The GG continues to expand the number of garden plots used to produce food for distribution. The Watchung Hills Elks ENF Grant awarded to WFA will help fund this expansion.
Among her other responsibilities, Kat also runs the largest fundraiser for the WFA, Brite Nites. Prior to COVID, this had been a walk-through event. In 2020, despite COVID restrictions, Kat reimagined Brite Nites as a drive through to allow patrons to enjoy the event from the safety and comfort of their vehicles. In 2022 Kat took it a step further and created a hybrid event, so that some nights were a drive through, and some nights were walk through. This enabled people with mobility restrictions the opportunity to attend the event. It also meant the return of the walk through. Kat implemented additional changes to the running of the event, making it the most well attended and profitable Brite Nites fundraiser in WFA history. The Brite Nites event helps fund the operation of the WFA, including the Community and Giving Gardens.
Besides WFA, Kat belongs to several other non-profit community groups. She has been a member of Sweet Adeline’s International (SAI), a women’s A Cappella singing organization, for 26 years. She is a singer/performer in the internationally renowned Harmony Celebration Chorus in Ridgewood, NJ and has competed numerous times in award winning quartets. She is a Certified Director of The Jersey Harmony Chorus (JHC) near Princeton, NJ where she has been the director for the past 11 years. Jersey Harmony’s outreach to the community includes performing at many charitable and civic events. She also serves on the volunteer staff of SAI Region 15. Kat is also passionate about history. She belongs to the Historical Society in Warren Twp and is a guild artist in The Historical Society of Early American Decoration (HSEAD).
Volunteering is part of Kat’s DNA – her dad, Dan Luna, was a lifelong community volunteer. In fact, he won this very award (COY, 2001) on March 10, 2002 for his service in the American Legion as well as his 45 years on the Warren Twp Volunteer Rescue Squad!
For Kat’s many contributions to those in need and the community, she is being recognized as this year’s Watchung Hills Elks Lodge 885 Citizen of the Year for 2022.
If you’d like to learn more about Watchung Hills Elks Lodge 885, please visit us on the web at elkslodge885.org and follow links to our Facebook page to see our upcoming events.
