On Saturday, Sept. 7, Project Grow Love held another clean up event in order to pull out weeds and dead plants in the garden. Helping to create space, this allows for new growth and contributions from the public.        

The cleanup consisted of around 30 people, all with the intent to help restore the beauty of the garden. The event was two hours long, starting at 6 p.m. and ending at 8 p.m.  

“That is why Tori and I decided to do that outing Saturday night. We needed a lot of work to be done, and that’s what we did,” AP Psychology teacher and Project Grow Love founder Ronit Reoven said. “We really want to keep the memorial fresh and beautiful, and it will stay that way.”

Project Grow Love was brought about by AP Psychology teacher Ronit Reoven and former student Victoria Gonzalez, as they wanted to give the MSD community a place to go to pay respects. The pair started the project by buying flowers and promoting the project through social media. The two watched the memorial they created become more and more colorful with flowers the community planted on their own.

“I’m just very pleased what it has become the past couple months. I get a good feeling to know that people really wanted to make something happen, and take the initiative to get it done,” Reoven said. “We will get the beautiful results after all the hard work from the community. I’m happy that the memorial is there, and I just hope people keep it up because it is really important.”

The founders of Project Grow Love hope and strive for the memorial to become a place more people from the community can use to reflect and heal. Reoven wants Project Grow Love to bond everyone together and make the community of Parkland stronger. 

If anyone is interested in participating in Project Grow Love, they can bring their own flowers and plants to add to the garden located on the corner of Holmberg and Pine Island. They can also contact Reoven or Gonzalez to receive more information in regards to how they can help.