Tulips on Troost

We're updating our website! Please bear with us as we make some changes on our site over the next week or so. Don't worry, we'll still be posting news and updates, but there may be some other glitches along the way (feel free to leave a comment and let us know what they are!). Otherwise, we'll keep working hard and have tulipsontroost.com looking perfect as soon as possible!

Many thanks go out to all from Rockhurst University who helped plant this past Saturday!

In addition to the 45 Alberta Dwarf Spruce tress, we planted 400 Daffodil bulbs on the 5500 block and at Friendship Park (57th and Forest). The spruce trees are all around...some 26 are lined up on 55th Street marching east of Troost towards Paseo.

Now that Tulips on Troost has been up and running for a few years, we thought it was time to remind everyone of our mission on Troost Avenue.

Tulips on Troost is a non-profit organization that aims to change the face of Troost Avenue by planting one million tulips along the Avenue by 2010. Through this activity, we will:

• Bring deserved attention and respect to one of our city's most important founders, Dr. Benoist Troost
• Give our city's residents alternative, new and significant ways to perceive race, color, and culture as it relates to Troost Avenue
• Create opportunities for community members to cooperate in bettering the environment around them
• Influence city planners and legislators to prioritize the revitalization of Troost Avenue
  
• Attract citizens to take up residency, move/start their businesses, or simply become a consumer along Troost Avenue
  
• Provide a powerful symbol of hope, achievement, and healing to everyone who observes the positive changes on Troost Avenue

Through this mission, we hope to inspire and motivate the citizens of Kansas City to recognize the value of neighborhood revitalization in some of the city's most historic districts. Whether you do this on your own, or whether you join us in beautifying Troost Avenue through volunteering, networking, or financial donations, we at Tulips on Troost invite you partner with us in improving our city.

Tulips on Troost is a part of the Southtown Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri, which is a 501c3 organization. Your donations to Southtown Foundation for the Tulip Project are fully tax-deductible and we thank you for your support!

Greetings! My name is Maureen Lunn and I am Tulips on Troost's newest member, serving TOT as an Americorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America). I am 27 years old and a newlywed! I came to TOT due to my interest in local non-profit work and my experiences living and working in areas surrounding Troost Avenue. Prior to becoming a VISTA, I completed my master's degree in African Studies at the University of Kansas. Additionally, I served as director of student ministries at Jacob's Well Church in midtown, and at YouthFront in Shawnee Mission, Kansas.

I love to travel, having lived in Hong Kong, China for a year and a half as well as having had several opportunities to travel abroad to Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. These opportunities have enriched me to a deep understanding of poverty issues that I hope to apply in my work on Troost Avenue. In the future, my husband, Toby, and I hope to relocate to East Africa and participate in relief work.

I look forward to meeting many of you involved with Tulips on Troost this year!