This week local youth will begin planting 1,300 red tulip bulbs at schools, churches, public housing facilities, homes and businesses, mostly in the central city, to "Plant the Promise." The project is a joint effort of the City of Columbia's Office of Volunteer Services and the Youth Community Coalition. Through "Plant the Promise" youth will make a promise to think about their actions and stay drug and alcohol free.
Not only do we want this project to be a valuable experience for youth to give more thought to making good decisions... we also want to help beautify central Columbia.
Most of our Adopt-A-Spot Beautification projects are on the fringe of the city as part of a new street project. Unfortunately, that has meant fewer projects in the middle of town. The bulbs will be one step toward bringing additional beauty to the central city.
This project is one that although has been on my mind for some time, did not get put together until a few months ago when Becky Markt with the Youth Community Coalition approached me with the Plant the Promise concept. In a short amount of time, we have had commitments from many youth groups who want to do the planting and from contacts representing more than 45 planting sites all over town.
The bottom line here is that every part of our community - public, private, nonprofit - see the value in adding beauty. Giving our youth another opportunity to think about staying away from drugs and alcohol is important to all of us, too. When we can join those two efforts we can have a fantastic project!
So, if you see a group of young people planting bulbs this week, ask them what they are up to. They may be Planting the Promise! We'll all enjoy their work next spring with a show of red tulips.
