The Catholic Church of St. Ann recently welcomed members and leadership of Congregation Etz Chaim to a special program – adding a meaningful, local component to the global initiative, The Daffodil Project. 

The Daffodil Project aspires to build a worldwide Living Holocaust Memorial by planting 1.5 million daffodils to remember and represent the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust, and in support of children who continue to suffer in humanitarian crises and genocides around the world today.  

Universities and schools, churches and synagogues, city parks and botanical gardens, have all participated in The Daffodil Project, planting beautiful gardens of their  own. The result: at each location, the daffodils bloom  each year, with a dual purpose to beautify and inspire.  

The Daffodil Project was started in Atlanta, Georgia,  in the Fall of 2010 with the initial planting of 1,800 daffodils. To date, they have engaged thousands of people at  more than 370 locations and planted over 800,000 daffodils worldwide.  

At the program at St. Ann’s on Nov. 5th, 250 daffodil  bulbs were planted – many by St. Ann’s youth and Etz  Chaim’s teens. Additional highlights included a candle lighting, an interfaith prayer service, the reading of  poems, and the dedication of the daffodil garden. 

Father Lamartine, Catholic Church of St. Ann said.  “When our community can come together bridging our  faiths and bringing awareness to those currently suffering  human rights crises throughout the world, this act of true  partnership symbolizes hope for the future.” 

Jamie Platt Lyons, President of Congregation Etz  Chaim said, “Wonderful programs like our collaboration  with St. Ann’s helps us to underscore our message, that  communities of all faiths across the globe can stand  together and collectively say, ‘Never Again!’”  

“When I first started volunteering for the Daffodil  Project, I thought of it more as a meaningful tribute  to the children who died. But of late I see that people need a constant reminder of man’s inhumanity to  man as demonstrated again on October 7,” said Susie Sommer, Daffodil Project Ambassador. “The 1.5 million children who could have grown up to be scientists,  doctors, Nobel Peace Prize winners; assets to a world in  disarray, were needlessly, cruelly eliminated during the  Holocaust, and it should never happen again. We all  need the reminder that the resilient daffodils bring each  spring. The reminder that goodness will prevail and that  we should have hope for the future.”  

How The Daffodil Project Began: The shape and  color of the daffodils represent the yellow stars that Jews  were forced to wear during the Holocaust. Yellow is the  color of remembrance. The Daffodil Project symbolizes  the strength and resilience of the human spirit and makes  us face, head on, the importance of the obligation we  each have to uphold justice.  

The Daffodil Project honors the memory and the lives  of those who perished, honors survivors, and reminds us  to stand up for those suffering around the world today.  

For information about The Daffodil Project, visit www. daffodilproject.net.