The Campus Ministry recently joined the Daffodil Project; an international organization dedicated to building a living worldwide Holocaust memorial. The Daffodil Project’s Goal: Planting 1.5 million daffodil bulbs across the globe. Saint Anselm College now contributes a piece of that greater goal.
This is Campus Ministry’s first year joining the Daffodil Project.
Greg Cecconi, Director of Campus Ministry, explained, “The church teaches us, scripture teaches us to love your neighbor; and the more encounters we have with our neighbor, the more we learn about, and also have opportunities to encounter God…When we think about loving our neighbors, we have to think about issues of justice and times when we failed…as a human community, and not forget those failures so we can learn from them…try to prevent them, and do better.”
The daffodils serve as a visual reminder. The bulbs are going to be planted in early October, and they will bloom in anticipation of spring. Although Cecconi couldn’t provide an exact number of daffodils to be planted, he hopes to plant a couple hundred. The current plan is to plant them on the South side of the Student Center, facing the Dana Center. The daffodils will be planted along the side of the building and will be visible from the walkways.
“Life issues are very important for the church, explained Cecconi, “issues of life, cover a very large spectrum…and so this is also one of those areas in which we show our commitment to being pro-life.”
The Campus Ministry will be working with Saint A’s physical plant, as well as, the student organization Hawk’s for Life. In collaboration, these students will have the opportunity to assist in planting the bulbs this month.
Cecconi described our campus being one piece of a larger puzzle of other communities that are also planting daffodils across the world. He thought that there was something very eloquent about being a part of the greater whole of the memorial.
Currently, the Daffodil Project has only reached its goal of 1.5 million daffodils with 978,500 bulbs, or 65%. Other countries involved in the Project include Croatia, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Israel, The Netherlands, and South Africa.
Although discussions still need to be had, Cecconi hopes to continue the project into the future, making it an annual project the Campus Ministry organizes. He hopes to add a prayer service, along with, educational components.