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The Glad Project: The Dale Amend Memorial Garden

Have you noticed the red, white, and pink gladiolas blooming along the entry to the office and music center and admired them? Perhaps the new raised beds in the upper garden area on the back side of the church caught your eye, or maybe the fresh flowers on the altar the past few months. Maybe you received a bouquet of flowers from St John’s UMC. What’s going on? This appears to be new, but it is a ministry that has been growing over the past 80 years.


Around 1946 Lewis Amend, a farmer in Rocky Ford, Colorado fell ill and was hospitalized. Over a period of thirty days, he had three major surgeries that saved his life. During his hospitalization and recovery, he was uplifted and appreciative of the many friends who visited him with their smiles, their concern, and their love. He became a devoted visitor to the ill and shut-ins for the rest of his life. He grew gladiolas and delivered them on those visits; it was very successful.



A field of gladiola flowers focused on a yellow flower

After Lewis’s death in 1981, his youngest son Dale wanted to honor his father. In 1992 after retiring to a large north valley property, Dale had the time, resources, and land to continue his father’s gladiola growing for use in visits to church members. Dale didn’t want this to be limited by his own skills, so he asked for help in arranging and delivering the bouquets. Jan and Charley Price stepped up and the Glad Project got its name, grew, and continued on. Each year around 300 gladiola were grown, arranged, and delivered by many over the years. Dale came to cherish Matthew 25 “The King will say ‘I was sick and you visited me’… the righteous will answer Him ‘Lord when did we visit thee?’ … and the King will answer them ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.”


In January 2025 Dale went home to Jesus. At first, the Glad Project seemed as if it might die along with him since the source of the flowers ended and purchasing weekly floral arrangements is very costly. Then God spoke -- grow flowers at St John’s (Garden Ministry), get more people to arrange them Sunday morning to use on the altars (Worship Arts), and get more people to deliver the flowers to shut-ins, sick or the lonely (Member Care). With God’s inspiration, history repeats itself and Jim and Melanie Amend are honoring Dale in leading an updated Glad Project in a sustainable manner with the combined work of these three St John’s ministries. The Garden Ministry recently installed a 55-foot-long raised bed to plant many flowers and will soon be putting in a watering system to sustain the plants. And, flowers planted late spring in the flower beds by the office are blooming and being used on the altars and provided to homebound members. God is Great!


We need more people with a willingness to serve and give of some time to these efforts. Some of the help needed is mainly during flowering season, some is occasional, and some is for additional months to support Garden Ministry activities. You can participate as you can with flexible times and dates. Please contact the church office at reception@stjohns-abq.org for more information.


How You Can Help The Glad Project


Garden Ministry             


Worship Arts


Member Care

  • Flower Coordinator

  • Flower deliveries

  • Home visitations   

               

We leave you with one of many lessons taught by our Granddaddy Lewis Amend. “The service you perform for others is the rent you pay for the space you occupy on this planet. If you’re not performing any service for others you’re not paying rent; you’re merely taking up space.”

 
 
 

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