In the days leading up to the blessing of a rejuvenated prayer garden, Girl Scout Anya Ukstins reflected on her reason to participate.
“I think this project was important because it beautified the landscaping of the church in remembrance of all the unborn babies,” she said.
Ukstins, along with members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Shrine’s Knights of Columbus council and its Boy and Girl Scout troops, joined others June 25 as Father René Canales, pastor, blessed a refurbished garden memorial to unborn children on the property of Saint Lawrence Church, a parish worship site.
PHOTO GALLERY: Scouts, Prayer Garden Blessing
The blessing followed the 8 a.m. Mass in which the Scouts and Knights were recognized for their good works.
Girl Scouts Kathryn Krug and Lizbeth Cwikla of Troop 30051 presented Father Canales with a proposal earlier this year to restore the overgrown garden. The parish-based Knights of Columbus Nativity Council 2976 and members of its Boy Scout Troop 122 shared the girls’ desire to bring the garden back to its former glory, and work began about two months ago.
Matthew Krug, Grand Knight, noted the close ties the three groups enjoyed, saying, “The Knights council now sponsors the Girl Scout troop after they lost their original charter after COVID, and they use our council house for their meetings. The parish sponsors the Boy Scout troop, so it was a perfect fit. [The project] was a good way to give back to their parish community.”
The labor-intensive project included ripping out pervasive ivy, moving rose bushes, tilling the soil, weeding, removing a tree, laying down paving stones, planting flowers and installing benches in the roughly 10-foot-by-10-foot area.
Boy Scout Troop leader Stacy White recounted how adult leaders and members of the 40-boy troop toiled to remove a tree in the middle of the overgrown garden. He matter-of-factly explained, “They are Boy Scouts, and the church needed help. This is a labor of love. … These are good kids who ‘get it.’”
Girl Scout troop leader Christina Cwikla described her girls’ motivation, saying, “We teach them as Girl Scouts to be a lot more community-service oriented, to look for things that need a little help.”
Girl Scout Isabella Rippert saw the project as a stepping stone to her future. “I thought this was a good service project for our troop because we would learn how to take care of our own plants growing up,” she said. “It also taught us the knowing of how to take care of things in general, it let us understand the responsibilities, and it could also teach us how to respect other people’s properties.”
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
