Residents Enhance the Beauty of St. John Community

St. John Community resident, Kathy Langford, wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead with the back of her dirt and soil covered hand.

“Our building is going to look beautiful,” explained Langford.

Langford along with The Residence at St. John residents Jill Blower, Lois Kowalski, Kate Rowe dedicated several hours of their time planting various types of flowers as well as vegetables in effort to add to the natural aesthetic beauty of trees that surround the building.

Responding to the residents’ desire to add a vibrant touch to their living space, Gina Strasbaugh, the marketing coordinator for St. John Community, helped organize a resident gardening party.

“This is something they had talked about doing,” explained Strasbaugh. “They were thrilled at the opportunity to contribute to the beauty of their beloved home.”

Along with Strasbaugh, Tanya DeFranciscis, St. John’s regional marketing manager and Erica Rusek, Marketing Coordinator at St. John, all worked on the back end to bring together an experience for the residents that transformed the look of their community.

Contacting several local businesses, Gumto Greenhouses generously agreed to donate all of the flowers and flower pots while Quality Gardens donated seeds as well as all of the different tomato plants and several kinds of pepper plants such as cherry peppers, green pepper and pepperoncini.

Rowe, wearing a sunhat lined with flowers, a hat she designed, eagerly dug into the soil not afraid to get her hands dirty.

“I want to feel the dirt,” she explained as her reason for not wearing gloves.

Her fingers dug into soil that filled the base of the pot, separating the roots of flower before carefully placing the first plant of the day. Once the plant had been placed, the process repeated, one after another, until the flower pot bloomed with a stunning tapestry of vibrant and colorful flowers, each carefully placed to create a visual masterpiece.

While Rowe worked on her flower pot, Langford received a helping hand from her son, Jeff Langford of Mars Bank. Jeff and his bank partner, Bob Addoms, volunteered their time by helping plant flowers while helping fill the pots with dirt and soil.

“That was special to spend time with my mom,” said Jeff.

Also lending a helping green thumb were two volunteers from the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA), Danielle Hoffman and Eileen Keelan, who helped Kowalski plant some of the pepper plants.

“The extra hands were nice to have,” explained Kowalski about the VNA helpers.

With their collective efforts, the residents transformed their surroundings by planting around 100 flowers in 16 flower pots and as well as serval beds of tomato and pepper plants.