Restoring Roses to Southern Gardens

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill…great works are performed, not by strength but by perseverance.

Samuel Johnson

If all goes well, David and I, will be in Texas for the Fall Convention of the American Rose Society. At the membership meeting I will share the myriad of ways that other rose lovers can participate with us in this amazing project.

After the convention we are headed to Lake Charles in Louisiana where we will be giving roses to the local rose society President, Judy Mayo. Judy and other members, who lost so many of their own roses in the hurricane, were still willing to house and care for the roses we shipped to Habitat for Humanity until its project homes could be completed. This society attended the dedication of Habitat’s new neighborhood, Hope Court, and conducted a rose care and planting demonstration that really impressed the happy homeowners. Habitat for Humanity sent us a beautiful certificate of appreciation with all the homeowners names inscribed at the bottom of the page.

From Lake Charles we travel directly to New Orleans and a couple of media covered days of handing out roses and letters.

We will also be handing out roses in Covington, Louisiana, Biloxi, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama. We will be working with community organizations, churches and Habitat for Humanity. I am still trying to make the correct contacts with Habitat for Humanity in Texas so that we might include them in the rose distribution.

We will be meeting with Master Gardener’s and Nurseries in several states in order to establish future holding and distribution sites. The following information will give you a pretty good understanding of what has been, and what will be happening, as we seek to restore beauty to the South….one rose bush at a time.

I have been in contact with teachers in our community and enlisted their help with writing letters of encouragement for our rose recipients. Students in grades K-College are participating in this part of the project by simply writing expressions of hope and love from their heart to our fellow Americans in the South. As of this date I have over two hundred letters ready to be delivered and hundreds more on the way. The teachers who are joining us with this effort will deliver the cards and letters to me the first of October.

1. I have been in contact with teachers in our community and enlisted their help with writing letters of encouragement for our rose recipients. Students in grades K-College are participating in this part of the project by simply writing expressions of hope and love from their heart to our fellow Americans in the South. As of this date I have over two hundred letters ready to be delivered and hundreds more on the way. The teachers who are joining us with this effort will deliver the cards and letters to me the first of October.
1. Boy Scout Troop 8 in Riverside will be emboss-stamping blank cards with a variety of rose designs to be used for encouragement note writing. I will hand these out to audiences at speaking engagements as I share this vision with schools, churches, synagogues and civic groups. I am working on a power point presentation that will offer uplifting thoughts and sayings that the audience can use as motivation to write their own words or as a template for writing a short note. At the end of the presentation, Scouts and other helpers will collect the finished cards and add them to our stockpile of letters to send with the roses. (These will accompany our late winter or spring deliveries.)
2. We have collected sufficient funds as of this date to ship 350 new roses into the Gulf the first Monday in October.
3. For the remainder of September I will be soliciting funds to bring the number of roses to 500. For the nominal amount of ten dollars you can sponsor a rose and packet of letters to be distributed to one of our precious American families who need encouragement as they struggle through this difficult time.
4. Hybridizer, Jack Christiansen, learned of our project and goals on Tuesday evening September 5th. Mr. Christiansen told me that he will enlist letter writing help from the high school where he teaches. He also stated that he will call in some of his “favors-owed” cards from commercial rose growers. He said he would attempt to procure several hundred more roses for our distribution in October… I pray he is successful in his gracious endeavors.
5. Mr. Paul Soniat, the director of the botanical gardens at City Park, New Orleans, has agreed to host a propagation seminar on September 23rd for the folks who received roses in our spring shipment and have voiced a desire to help give back by sharing their roses with others in their community. City Park was a springtime recipient of seventeen of our roses. They will be holding another seminar in November.
6. I have written a children’s book, The Rose Lady’s Magic Garden. I am self publishing this book due to its time sensitive tie- in with this project. If everything continues progressing at its present course, the book will be ready for sale at the convention in Dallas. A portion of the sales price will be used for the purchase of more roses.
7. We have received two Mayoral Proclamations and a letter of commendation from United States Senator Barbara Boxer. Our project was featured on the front page of the Riverside Press Enterprise on Saturday June 3rd and has garnered many positive comments about our project, the Riverside Rose Society and the American Rose Society. Nearly $900.00 came to us through the mail to purchase roses as a result of this well written article by staff writer, Janet Zimmerman.
8. The New Orleans police department in the 3rd District now has two of our roses planted on either side of the steps to the FEMA trailer that they call headquarters. These roses were presented by Sharon Henry and her all- volunteer work crew that came and cleaned up the grounds of the police station as a symbol of community pride. These blooming little beauties are a daily reminder to some very weary law enforcement personnel that they are cared about by others.
2. The pastors of Central City Church, in the heart of New Orleans that has now been dubbed “The Murder Zone”, have requested 100 roses to be given to their parishioners who are trying desperately to regain their neighborhood and their lives. Most of their congregants are women, head of their households and economically disadvantaged. Before they were aware of our project of giving roses as an expression of love and encouragement, these pastors were telling their people that they were like roses in God’s garden and that He would help them bloom again. They are excited and looking forward to the arrival of the roses and letters.
3. I just received confirmation from community leaders that we have been given the green light to plant a rose garden in Central City New Orleans as an expression of love in the midst of a very troubled neighborhood. Barbara Macen-Keller, a woman of great positive influence within this community, was happy to learn of the steps that others are willing to take to help revitalize this section of New Orleans. There are volunteers ready and willing to lend their time and energy to this symbolic endeavor according to Sharon Henry, our own little dynamo on the front lines of restoration for this city.

The following quote is excerpted from a letter sent to the Pat Shanley, Chairperson for the Marketing and Publicity Committee of the ARS, and each of the committee members:

The project to "Restore Roses to Southern Gardens", under the leadership of Lee Stevens, has evolved to become one of the most inspirational stories - and activities - of our time. Thank you, Pat, for seeing the beauty of the Lee Stevens vision, and for helping to see it through. Thank you, Lee, for the wonderful gift you have given, and are giving to humanity.

To participate in sponsoring roses for this project to restore beauty, and hope to our fellow Americans in the storm damaged South, you may make your check payable to the Riverside Rose Society. Please designate SOUTHERN GARDENS PROJECT in the memo section. Mail your check, or money order to:

Riverside Rose Society
4480 Main Street
Riverside, CA 92501

Your cancelled check, or copy of a money order is your tax deductible receipt.