Hundreds of families have worked to turn the streets of the Park Cities into boulevards of green.
Moms exchanged text messages to let each other know which streets were in need of ribbon, blocks came together to order enough for all their trees, and families tied ribbons around trees, signposts, and bushes themselves.
The ribbons, which are primarily green to represent Camp Mystic, show the community’s heartbreak for families whose children were lost in Kerr County’s devastating flood.
“It might seem silly,” Lesley McCaslin said. “A bunch of green ribbon, is that going to help? At least it lets them know, everywhere they go, that their community is praying for them, and they’re here for them.”
McCaslin had already been out more than once by July 8, when she was joined by her daughters Sullivan, 6, and Harrison, 4. Her third grader went to school with Janie Hunt, one of the six Park Cities girls who did not survive the flooding.
“He said she was one of the nicest girls he knows,” McCaslin said. “That sweet, precious light is now gone.”
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Hyer Elementary mom Lauren Feccia worked with other families to wrap trees the morning of July 8. She added a touch of pink, Janie Hunt’s favorite color, to the ribbons she tied.
“I don’t really know what to do. I’m at a loss for words as to what happened,” she said. “You’ve just got to get out there, and try and help as best you can.”
On a nearby street, Marcy Haggar placed ribbon around her trees. A mom on her block had ordered enough ribbon for all of its families, she explained. Even the mailman planned to put ribbons on his truck.
“My heart breaks for those families that lost their children,” she said. “I think it’s just the least I can do.”
Ribbons are available through Highland Park’s parent teacher associations and organizations.
Adam Saxton and Dan Murphy, who had put roles of ribbon on their porch in the 4400 block of Beverly Drive, were out by July 8. But they had replaced the ribbon with green heart-shaped cookies from the Highland Park Pie Lady. The cookies would be available for pick up by neighborhood children between 6 and 8 p.m. on July 8.
The Pie Lady packaged the cookies in pairs, Saxton explained, because a Mystic girl is never alone.
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