This weekend’s first Chincotague Spring Garden tour is a fundraiser for Village Neighbors Chincoteague, a volunteer-based nonprofit that helps older residents maintain active, independent lives.
Village Neighbors helps people age in familiar surroundings, including their own home, supported by caring volunteers.
Featuring eight of Chincoteague's loveliest gardens, the locations have been kept secret to build anticipation for the tour, said Lisa Cannon, its organizer.
She did offer up one location: The pollinator garden near the Bateman Center on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on neighboring Assateague Island, maintained by local master gardeners.
Other locations include one with water views and features a garden surrounded by a picket fence with a harmonious mix of vegetables and flowers. Another has a driveway flanked by crepe myrtle trees to create a spectacular entrance to the garden.
Cannon started Village Neighbors Chincoteague in May 2000, after learning about a similar national movement in Boston.
Cannon felt that Chincoteague, given its small size and a community that was already closely knit, would be the perfect place to establish a village after she noticed older residents needed help. It began helping island residents in 2022 and became a nonprofit in 2025.
One of the gardeners on this year’s tour is also a Village Neighbors member who relies on monthly transportation assistance to a medical specialist.
“Without this support to help me maintain my vision, I would soon need an assisted living situation instead of staying in my beautiful home that I love,” she said. WHRO has withheld her name since locations on the tour are meant to be a surprise.
The gardener also had recent help from a Village Neighbors volunteer to create beautiful planters filled with colorful annuals and perennials for the tour.
Located off S. Main Street, her property features several tranquil outdoor living areas, among a backdrop of shrubs, trees and perennials in sun and shade, overlooking a tidal pond frequented by waterfowl.
Last year, Cannon said Village Neighbors volunteers completed 650 service requests for more than 100 members living on Chincoteague. Each member pays a $240 annual fee to join, which entitles them to up to 10 “helps” per month. Shorter-term memberships are also available.
Tickets for the Chincotague Spring Garden tour can be purchased in advance online or on the day of the event at the outdoor pavilion of the Museum of Chincoteague Island, 7125 Maddox Blvd.
Ticket holders can pick up the tour brochure beginning at 10 a.m. at the outdoor pavilion at the Museum of Chincoteague Island
Most requests are geared toward errands, grocery shopping or transportation. Members can also request help with tasks like yard work, small household chores or just some good conversation and nice companionship, Cannon said.
Chincoteague’s village is one of more than 240 others in 41 states and the District of Columbia. International villages have also formed.
Each village is self-governing, but part of that larger network offering support to each other while sharing the same goals: to provide supportive services and activities to help people stay connected and independent as they age.
In addition to helping members in their homes, Village Neighbors Chincoteague hosts regular activities like yoga classes, game nights and community luncheons for people to get out and socialize.
Through grant funds, field trips are also possible, like a recent excursion to the Delaware Botanic Gardens at Pepper Creek near Dagsboro, Delaware.
Village Neighbors Chincoteague benefits its volunteers, too. Repeated involvement over time forms familiar bonds with those they help.
Donna and Tom Bartkiewicz have volunteered for Village Neighbors since moving to the Eastern Shore in 2024. They were looking for ways to get involved in the community when they found the organization.
Both help with local errands or by driving members to appointments off the island. Those they support on a regular basis either no longer drive or can’t drive that far to see a medical specialist an hour or two away.
Tom Bartkiewicz also serves on the board of directors. Donna is on the membership committee and helps with field trips.
Their parents are gone now, and many of the members they help are in the same age range that their parents would be.
“It’s a way for us to give back,” Donna said. “We are helping someone else’s loved ones for them when they can’t.”
