About Sandy Springs reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2022)
Yisrael Chai, the parent nonprofit organi zation of The Daffodil Project, said once this planting season finishes up in Janu ary 2022, the organization will have plant ed just over 700,000 daffodils since the or ganization began in 2010. “Steve Peters has given us a wonder ful opportunity to plant in the Brookhav- en parks, and he has a vision for this ex tending to many, many more parks in the Brookhaven area,” she said. The daffodil was a symbolic choice, said Videlefslcy. “The reason we chose the daffodil is because the shape and the color are sym bolic of the yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust,” she said. “So the daffodil is like the six-pointed shape, and the color yellow is also the col or of remembrance.” Videlefslcy said the group tries to incor porate Holocaust education and aware ness within the planting process. The gar dens are outfitted with plaques explaining what The Daffodil Project is, and volun teers usually bring along bios of children who died in the Holocaust along with them. “When we plant, we usually ask people to step forward and take a bulb and also take one of the bios that kind of describes the life of a child who died during the Ho locaust. And in that way, it sort of makes it more of a personal learning experi ence, and they can relate to that particu lar child,” Videlefslcy said. “It’s very hard to conceptualize 1.5 billion. This makes it a personal way of learning about it.” But for folks like Mayer and Baum- wald, the connection is already personal. During the Ashford Park planting, the sib lings dedicated their daffodils to their Un cle Kurt. “It doesn’t really hit you until it hits you. And when it does, you feel it,” Mayer said of the planting and dedication experi ence. “You get a little teary-eyed.” Baumwald said while she was touched by the dedication and the planting, the ex perience wasn’t necessarily a joyous one, but rather an important reminder of the loss. “People I know that are children of Ho locaust survivors, you grow up very dif ferently. The world is an evil place, and there’s fear and there’s not a lot of joy,” Baumwald said. “So it wasn’t something like, ‘Oh my god, I’ve been waiting my en tire life for this.’ It was nice, I was happy to help. As many times as I can tell this sto ry, I will.” OCSB COASTAL STATES BANK LOCAL. AND PROUD OF IT. Now Open in Buckhead, Sandy Springs & Alpharetta Buckhead Sandy Springs Alpharetta 2060 Mt Paran Rd NW 6160 Roswell Road 3000 Summit Place, Suite 100 Suite 100, Atlanta 30327 Atlanta, GA 30328 Alpharetta, GA 30009 (678) 845-1313 (678) 396-4651 (678) 396-4631 coastalstatesbank.com KAPLAN ORTHODONTICS • modern & open office • flexible scheduling • insurance accepted invisalign f " PROVIDER IN DUNWOODY 770-458-5561 FREE consultations! www.jkaplanortho.com @reporter_newspapers ss JANUARY 2022| 13
