Sunflowers in my Neighborhood

So, this isn't exactly food-related, but I had to share.

The Indianapolis Star has a story about a group- Global Peace Initiatives- that is going around door to door in a downtown neighborhood offering to plant sunflowers in yards. The whole article:

A woman determined to do something about crime is working on a simple solution: planting sunflowers.

Linda Proffitt, a social worker and founder of a small Eastside organization called Global Peace Initiatives, believes adding beauty to a neighborhood will contribute to peace.

Earlier this month she and a handful of volunteers began knocking on doors on the Near Eastside, offering to plant sunflowers as a way to cheer up the largely forlorn environs. With just two turn-downs, Proffitt’s group so far has planted several thousand sunflower seeds. “Some of the plants are an inch or so high,” she says.

The group planted flowers this week in the 400 block of North Tacoma Avenue in lots owned by the non-profit Riley Development Corp. Proffitt’s group planted its perennials on the lots’ borders, so they wouldn’t be displaced by construction of houses that will be built there.

Across the street were not one but two boarded-up houses. The houses on the street that are still occupied appeared in serious disrepair.

“People will see this looks nice here,” said Amanda Garcia, 13, “and maybe they’ll try to make their places look nice, too. We need to change the way things are going — stray dogs roaming around, people throwing trash around. This is their earth.”

“And because of the appearance of people doing good, and taking care,” says Proffitt, “the streets are safer. There’s research.”

I love sunflowers. And beauty does bring peace and comfort. I'm excited that there are people in Indianapolis creatively solving a problem. Hopefully this neighborhood will be impacted. I hope to get down to this neighborhood later in the summer & get some pictures of the new, bright, beautiful places- and all the sunflowers.