Last weekend a tornado devastated many neighborhoods in North Minneapolis. I had seen the photos in the newspaper and had seen video on TV, but I was in no way ready for what I would see when I drove down Jen's street. It was unbelievable...and remember that this was a week later!! A week of people working hard to clean up and rebuilding their lives. It was unbelievable.
From the time when the first tweets started coming last weekend about the tornado I knew I wanted to help. I think it is just a basic human instinct to want to help and even more so when there is so much devastation. But what could I do?
So when people started talking on twitter about wanting to help a fellow blogger and someone that was hit hard by the storm, anyway they could, Jen responded by saying that she had everything she needed but would love to spread cheer in her neighborhood. (Really how cool is that? She wanted nothing for herself but rather to give back to others less fortunate!)
And so some lovely bloggers came up with the idea of getting together and making some flower pots and then distributing them in her surrounding neighborhoods and Project Flower Bomb was planned. I had never met Jen, but have followed her blog for about a year now, and just felt that this was an opportunity that I wanted to help with and something that I could do. So I rsvp'd and jumped right in.
And so yesterday about 20 people gathered at Jen's house. She gave us a tour of the neighborhood. It was surreal and I just can't even imagine it right after the tornado hit!
And then we got busy planting flowers into little pots.
We quickly filled 130 pots with flowers and then filled out little cards to tuck into each flower pot. We split into two groups and started knocking on doors and handing out the flowers. It was so touching and moving to see how grateful and appreciative that people were to receive that little pot of cheer!
I felt so privileged to be part of this group and it was a perfect way for Jen to honor her neighborhood. Like she said; "The idea is simple. It is that flowers will continue to be a visual reminder of solidarity and hope."
I love that!
Thanks Jen for sharing your neighborhood with us! And I am hoping she took away some cheer from the day as well!
And here is a link to the Pioneer Press article that was written about the event. It made the front page today! Pretty awesome!
And we were each given as a thank you, a little flower to take home. I am going to find a pretty little pot to plant this in as a way to remember such a special day!
2 comments:
thank you so much for being a part of yesterday -- although it was the first time we met in real life, it really meant a lot that you were there.
That is so sweet! And inspiring! I became a follower to your blog! :) Erin
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