The Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri partnered with Laumeier Sculpture Park to help create a Rose River Memorial honoring those who died in Missouri because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The
The Rose River Memorial is a community art movement that honors the lives lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Missouri’s installation is being preserved inside Crown Center in downtown Kansas City. Cities across the United States are making felt roses as a symbol of grief.
On the day of her junior prom, Anna Newcome woke up early, loaded several boxes into trucks and drove over to the Kansas Statehouse with friends, family and other volunteers to plant one felt-fabric rose for each of the 5,000 Kansans killed by COVID-19.
For her Girl Scout Gold Award leadership project, Newcome had committed to organizing Kansas s installment of the national Rose River Memorial, a project by international artist Marcos Lutyens to honor each life lost to COVID-19.
Newcome, a junior at Topeka West, had first started planning the project about four months ago, holding Zoom conferences and sending emails to people and organizations across the state who would help her realize the ambitious project.