Gardens with Tech color schemes to be planted in honor of victims
Janelle Frazier, CT News Reporter
April 27 2007
On Saturday, April 28, community gardens of maroon, orange and white Hokie flowers will be planted throughout the region to memorialize the lives lost in the April 16 shootings.
Hometown Industries, a service-learning program coordinated by Perry Martin, and Chi Delta Alpha service sorority are collaborating to develop the idea for the gardens.
"This project is a way to show unity between the campus and the community," said Martin, the assistant director of the Service-Learning Center at Virginia Tech. "Everyone was hurt, but these gardens will be a lasting, growing legacy that can provide healing."
The national headquarters of Lowe's Home Improvement stores has agreed to donate 200 flats, which will yield thousands of flowers, in maroon, orange and white varieties. A truck will deliver the flowers early Saturday morning, along with soil donated by Home Depot, to the various locations.
Gardens will be planted in various communities in the New River Valley area: Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Eggleston, Pulaski, Salem and Newport. Both popular places such as the New River Valley Mall and individual residencies (a 104-year-old woman's backyard in Christiansburg) will become home to one of the 25 planned gardens.
Martin sent out e-mails to these areas a few days after the shootings, trying to gauge interest and participation before organizing the event. The various sites then contacted him, indicating their desire to have a garden planted in their area.
As of now, temporary posters will be placed with the gardens, indicating the date of the shootings.
"Next year we hope to get stones engraved with the names of the 32 victims that can replace the temporary posters," said Erica Faulhaber, a junior biology major who is one of the service officers for Chi Delta Alpha and the incoming president for the sorority. "We want to make this an annual thing and might try to incorporate it into our spring day of service."
The event is open to the community on campus and off. Interested people are encouraged to contact Martin at the Virginia Tech Service-Learning Center at (540) 231-9186 in order to ensure adequate transportation, but an R.S.V.P. is not mandatory. All participants should plan to meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Duckpond Overflow Parking Lot 19 near Oak Lane this coming Saturday.
So far, 250 students have given their R.S.V.P., as well as 11 other campus organizations and academic classes.
"We had a lot more feedback than expected, but that's a good thing," Faulhaber said. "I know doing service is how me and my sisters cope with the situation."