Belle Isle State Park Visit

The Rosa Parks Youth Peace Garden Participants just took an amazing trip to the Belle Isle State Park to visit their Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory and Belle Isle Aquarium. Our youth were amazed at how many exotics plants were in the conservatory.  We also had an amazing lunch prepared by our Conner kitchen staff and then enjoyed a huge game of freeze tag. It was a highly educational trip and a lot of fun.

Afterwards we went to the Heidelberg Project. A lot of people do not know this but our garden club was one of the last groups to visit the Heidelberg Project before the project was the target of arsonist. In total the Heidelberg Project had six exhibits burned most of which could not be salvaged in their original form. But Tyree Guyton the creator of the project was not going to allow all his artworks go to waste. He has used most of the burned wood and remaining structures to create new pieces and he met us upon our arrival to share his latest projects. Attached is a picture of our youth with Tyree while he described his newest art creation Heidelberg TV. He also gave an inspiring speech to our youth encouraging them to use their minds and imagination to rise about the negativity life can bring. We were truly blessed that a world renowned artist would spend his time with us.

Lastly we stop by the Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s On The Rise Bakery were we purchased 25+ oatmeal raisin (my personal favorite), peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies. We enjoyed the new decor and even though we had nearly 30 people in our group we were more than comfortable while enjoying our delicious snacks. We would like to thank Belle Isle, Tyree Guyton of the Heidelberg Project, The wonderful staff at On the Rise Bakery, & all our CSK staff that supported our trip. As you can see we had a blast!

Author: Sister Nancyann Turner, Adrian Dominican Sister