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.