Neighbors plant tulips on Troost

Next spring, portions of Troost Avenue will team with red, yellow, white and purple tulips, thanks to a fall planting effort.

More than 60 volunteers planted 2,000 tulip bulbs in November along Troost between 31st and 36th streets, adding to 250,000 bulbs already in the ground.

But their work is not done. Maureen Lunn, Tulips on Troost project manager with the Southtown Foundation of Kansas City, Mo., hopes to plant 1 million bulbs by 2010.

“The ultimate goal is not just to plant and beautify, but bring people in the community together,” Lunn said. “Troost is a notorious racial dividing line. We do have the power to do one small thing, beautiful and accessible to everyone. Our ultimate goal is to bring people on and around Troost together.”

Lunn, an AmeriCorps volunteer, will spend the next year fundraising and enlisting volunteers to plant bulbs while helping to promote a sense of community.

She said the scores of volunteers who turned out helped plant tulip beds and collect litter from Prospect and Linwood streets. She said wants the effort to produce a lasting affect in the community.

“We want to create ownership,” Lunn said.

Tulips on Troost partnered with Kansas City Power and Light, GE Energy, American Association of Blacks in Energy, and Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church to expand Tulips on Troost to become the Tulips Beyond Troost project.

Rita Boyd, KCPL community outreach manager and Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church member, helped lead the effort of cleaning portions of Ivanhoe and Palestine neighborhoods along Troost.

“You could call me a bridge builder or coalition builder,” she said.

Boyd said the turnout was so strong volunteers were able to plant bulbs along Troost and fill 161 bags of trash within three hours.

“It demonstrated how Kansas Citians are dedicated to community building,” she said.

Boyd said six weeks prior to the tulip planting, her congregation initiated the Metropolitan Green Ministry to demonstrate environmental stewardship. She knew about the Tulips on Troost project and pursued combining efforts.

“This would be the perfect partnership,” she said.

Boyd, who helped create the Lilies on Linwood, said she appreciates the willingness of the Kansas City community to come together to help with the project.

“Many hands make light work,” she said.

Rachael Hoffman organized 15 volunteers to plant tulips on a vacant lot at 54th Street and Troost and spear-headed a crew of 50 earlier this year to pick up trash in the same area as part of President Obama’s National Day of Service on Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 19.

A resident of the neighborhood for three years, Hoffman said she always wanted to be helpful in planting more tulips.

“It was fun to be outside, using your hands and body,” she said. “We can plant as many tulips as we have volunteers.”

Volunteers will plant about 2,500 tulips and lilies at Sanford Brown Park on Linwood at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 12. For information, visit www.troostavenue.com.

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