Staff Writer
FLUSHING The Flushing Garden Club is carrying on its yearly tradition to help beautify the community by hanging holiday swags outside local churches and buildings throughout the village.
For more than 70 years, the club has been involved in a community beautification project in which members create flower arrangements, wreaths and swags to adorn various buildings throughout town during the holidays. This year has been no different, with the club creating around 17 swags that they then donated and hung outside local establishments including Alliance Church, Christian Church, Methodist Church, Rock Hill Church, Trinity Church, Victoria Read Library, and the Wayne L. Hays Apartments.
photo by: Contributed Photos
Volunteers from Rock Hill Church and Ballard Center board member Michelle Chronister spread rubber mulch at one of the Ballard Center s playgrounds in the summer of 2020.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Ballard Center Executive Director Becky Price was bracing for a 150% increase in people needing help and a 50% decrease in donors. But nine months into the pandemic, the nonprofit leader said no donor decrease has occurred. She’s had a “front row seat” to the community’s generosity, she said and especially so in her own North Lawrence community.
“People are stepping up to the plate. It is shocking and amazing to me,” she said.