Bay Ridge Jewish Center welcomes spring

April showers brought May flowers with a little help from the Bay Ridge Jewish Center, as the BRJC, at 81st Street and Fourth Avenue, held a spring garden planting event earlier this month for families to take a part in and teach their kids a little botany.

At the May 15 event, parents and their children enjoyed crafts activities and learned a few gardening tips to help add color to the center’s front garden facing Fourth Avenue. With help from member Dr. Joel Sokol, a local dentist as well as a self-described “part-time farmer,” children in attendance were able to learn the basics of planting flowers in a garden.

Whether it was the planting of larger decorative plants or tiny perennials, Sokol taught the children how to dig a hole properly, place the plant and fill in the soil around it. All children involved were immensely taken by the activity, some even helping other youngsters plant their flowers.

Ruth Masyr, a past president of the center, led the event and spoke of this as an effort to “include the community and beautify our front garden.”

According to Masyr, the center does a lot to involve the community, “We believe that people walking by will see us doing helpful activities such as this one and just the sight of it will encourage more good deeds,” she said. Often, according to Masyr, non-members and non-Jewish people come to BRJC events.

The BRJC plans to have a second spring planting event on June 5.