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PUMP Students Spruce Up in Front of Dafford Murals

PUMP Students Spruce Up in Front of Dafford Murals
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By Ro Morse, WestKyStar Staff
Jul. 20, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY
By Ro Morse, WestKyStar Staff Jul. 20, 2017 | 06:18 PM | PADUCAH, KY
Paducah Urban Mission Plunge is a one week camp organized annually through Broadway United Methodist Church. Each day the group of student volunteers from Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee spend their time making a positive difference in the community.

Rebecca O'Brien leads the group of about 40 students. They have been coming together and serving the City for 19 years. On Thursday, sixteen of the student volunteers worked for three hours in the heat to weed the liriope in front of the Paducah Wall to Wall floodwall murals in downtown Paducah. They also washed all the bronze interpretive panels and cleaned each of the over 50 spotlights.

The PUMP boys and girls talked openly with the media and others that were walking by saying they enjoy giving back to the community. Even in the heat, they had positive attitudes and it was obvious they were sincere.  

Molly Johnson, with Paducah Parks Services, has recently been assigned the daunting task of overseeing and coordinating downtown landscaping. Johnson connected the PUMP group with the floodwall mural needs and it was a success. A team of City workers took part in the project and will follow up with regular weeding of the popular attraction.

Johnson knows what she's doing. Look at the Downtown Farmers Market and the gorgeous zinnias along North 2nd Street. "We just signed up the 82nd vendor in the outdoor market program. It's open more months than any of our other programs," said Johnson. She has been coordinating events for the City for several years and is making the connections necessary to create growth and attract local as well as out-of-town visitors. 
Maintaining the landscaping and overall appearance of the downtown was recently added to her job description and she's making great strides. "Baby steps......" she says.

Following the weeding and cleaning, the students were given bags containing gift certificates and a mural coloring book to show the City's appreciation for their help. A poster of different Dafford murals was given to each volunteer. Robert Dafford, who is in town now, stopped painting and came down from the scaffolding to personalize each poster with his autograph.



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