Garden club, VFW team up to beautify post

Wayne Cook stands behind the completed project. (T-G Photo by Sadie Fowler) [Order this photo]

A local garden club looking to serve found a perfect outlet in the local chapter of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

Post Commander Wayne Cook wanted to spruce up his local post. At the same time, Weed'em & Reap, which was formed last year by Steve Mills, wanted to partake in a community service project.

It was a perfect match.

"This was just blank and really drab," Cook said Wednesday, speaking of the post prior to the landscaping.

Cook placed a notice in the Times-Gazette, which caught the eye of Mills.

"We are all community-minded and, after a few months of meetings, we started looking for a project to do as a group," Mills said. Mills said, "It was a sure thing that we would want to help," given the VFW's role in serving this community and country.

Cook attended a Weed'em & Reap meeting and expressed what he had in mind for the landscaping project.

"I didn't know how we'd do it, but I had an idea of what I wanted."

Cook envisioned a stone, oval-shaped flower bed in front of the post.

"Along with the Stone Depot we designed, built and planted two new beds at the front entrance and around the sign (near the road)," Mills said. "Stone Depot did all the heavy lifting and delivery of soil and two of our members spearheaded the different plantings. It took several work days to plant and continues to need attention during these hot, dry days, but we are thankful that Wayne gave us the opportunity to help."

Cook requested a stone wall behind the flower bed, something he said no one quite understood at first. Cook, however, had a very good reason. He wanted to be able to hang the VFW emblem on that wall.

The flowers are all red, white and blue.

"We're having a hard time getting the blue ones to grow (due to weather)," Cook said. "They've worked awfully hard for this, though.

"When they heard it was a VFW service project they jumped right on it. It was a godsend."

Cook served two years in Korea in the late 1960s prior to serving for four years in Germany.