In a nice update to the inspiring (honestly, no irony intended) story about late Polish immigrant and Minnesota resident, Joseph Temeczko, who generously left his $1.4 million life savings to the city of New York after September 11, 2001; it's unclear his intentions, but Temecezko's first job in the United States was as a laborer at the Statue of Liberty. It turns out that $1 million will go to ballfields in different city parks and $300,000 will go towards the Daffodil Project, a program that plants daffodils all over the city as "a living memorial for the victims, a symbol of remembrance and rebirth for the city and its citizens that would bloom spring after spring." [A Netherlands bulb supplier, Hans van Waardenburg, first donated 500,000 and the city of Rotterdam matched the donation; van Waardenburg pledges to donate 500,000 bulbs every year "as long as there is a need and other who share the vision."] Temeczko's gift goes towards the shipping costs of the daffodils for the next five years, and he will be honored posthumously later this month.
You can volunteer to help plant daffodil bulbs. Check here.
