SARASOTA – A garden to honor Carlie Brucia, after she was murdered in 2004, gets a makeover thanks to Suncoast volunteers.
“I was very depressed when I came,” Carlie Brucia’s cousin, Kimberly Gregorie. “It didn’t feel warm, inviting, welcoming, anything.”
Her cousin, Kimberly Gregorie, visited the garden in late January and left discouraged.
“It was bad, it was bad,” Gregorie said. “I mean these things were black with mold”
The Central Church of Christ offered its backyard for the garden. And helped with funding.
But, over the years it lost its luster. Fast forward to Saturday morning.
“Lo and behold today, I get so, excited, because all these people showed up early this morning, even before I got here, they were here,” Carlie’s best friend mom, Sheri Langworthy, said.
The Suncoast brought shovels, paintbrushes, and labor to help restore the garden.
From brown poles and murky ponds to a fresh new look. White poles, wind chimes and colorful flowers. A youthful spirit lingers in the air.
Volunteers like Tom Bailey, says it’s about being a good citizen.
“It’s important to the community to know that there are people who truly care about children, about the community, about drugs and alcohol that created the problem, and crime,” Mason volunteer, Tom Davie, said.
The family wants to keep her legacy alive.
“We want to keep this in her memory, in her honor,” Langworthy said.
It’s not only an effort to remember Carlie Brucia, but also an effort to spread awareness.
“It’s a way to keep our kids safe because our kids are important,” Langworthy said. “Our kids are our future, and we don’t want anything like this to happen to any other child.”
The goal is to finish the garden before Carlie’s birthday, March 16.