National Horticultural Therapy Week (NHTW), has been a “ritual” of AHTA to promote and celebrate horticultural therapy third week of March since 2006. This March 2016 marked 10 years of recognizing HT in this way. Lana Dreyfus in 2004 planted a seed. At the time Lana was an AHTA board member and President of the Chesapeake Chapter who campaigned for NHTW. Through communications sent out by the AHTA, every member of AHTA was encouraged to take a moment and contact their elected representative and senators to ask for their support of this resolution. Congressman David Price, 4th District of North Carolina, agreed to sponsor a Congressional Resolution Number 92 submitted to Congress March 2005 supporting the recognition of NHTW during 2006.
I took the seed (Congressional Resolution Number 92) planted by Lana and showed it to New Jersey Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman, R-District 16, my legislative district in 2012. He shared it with the NJ Office of Senate and Legislative Affairs to research the field to see if there was fertile ground to redraft. The ground was indeed fertile, and Senate Resolutions SJR12 and AJR13 were immediately supported by Senator Bateman and Assemblywoman Donna Simon, R-16, and introduced during the 2014-2015 Legislative Session.
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Published by: American Horticultural Therapy Association
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