Camp Darby blooms as flowers and plants grow thanks to volunteers, who gave their time and efforts to plant and maintain the installation’s planters.
In 2018, Mandi Knowles Willis volunteered at the postal service office the first week she and her husband arrived at Camp Darby.
“On my way daily from the Casa [Toscana], I would walk past all of the parking stops/planters and they were full of dirt and weeds or empty, and every time I walked by them, I thought ‘how sad, they need some plants/flowers here’,” Willis said.
Later, Willis noticed a community member named Julie Fullmer in the post office area cleaning out planters and preparing them for wildflower seed.
“I loved gardening back home and did not really have room at my Italy home to do it, so I asked her if I could help out,” Willis said.
Fullmer volunteered by planting flowers and maintaining them mostly by herself for a long time, it was time to think bigger and reach out to community volunteers to help Fullmer realize what she started.
Fullmer immediately shared her knowledge and experience with Willis, but soon her husband’s assignment to Darby came to an end. So, she asked Willis if she could take over her project.
“In summer 2019, I spent a ton of time watering and weeding out the planters; it was exhausting and soon realized that plants need to be more sustainable, drought tolerant and I would really like to get the community involved with the maintenance,” Willis said.
Willis named this project the “Darby beautification project”. She recruited as many volunteers possible and made it come to life after a few unfortunate hiccups.
“With the contacts I had made at DPW, I found out there was no money in the budget for labor, but there was money to spend on the actual plants, soil, mulch, etc.,” Willis said. “So, I sent a proposal to DPW, but then unfortunately the country locked down due to COVID-19, so we faced a first delay.”
During the summer of 2020, Willis found herself battling with a cancer diagnosis. She was forced to drop the project and most of the plants dried out.
While still recovering from surgery, Willis unexpectedly received a phone call with the news that her project was approved.
“I was floored, and with a great group of volunteers ready to help me, my dream project was coming into reality,” Willis said. “Most of the volunteers came from Friends of Camp Darby group, several amazing spouses of Active Duty Service members, about 15 Soldiers of the 405th Army Field Support Battalion and Airmen of the 731st Munitions Squadron and we got to work.”
In about a month the work was finished and the Darby community provided positive feedback.
The accomplished beautification project must be maintained for the future.
“I will pass along my knowledge to whomever wants to contact me about it,” Willis said.
“It has truly been my pleasure to serve the Darby Community. We called this place HOME for the past few years, and I definitely tried to leave it better than I found it.”
| Date Taken: | 01.21.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 01.21.2021 10:17 |
| Story ID: | 387285 |
| Location: | IT |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Darby volunteers come together to beautify the community, by Chiara Mattirolo, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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