TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 3, 2017) — A local Girl Scout is sharing her love of nature with residents at a nearby assisted living and memory care community. Pasco County resident Kara Pugliese recently built a flower garden for residents of The Watermark at Trinity, located in Trinity’s Foxwood Commerce Park.
The garden is a part of her journey towards the Girl Scout Silver Award, which is the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn. As part of this, Kara was required to select an issue in the community that she could help improve. She chose the environment and nature, following the “Breathe” leadership journey.
“During my journey, I kept an air log [to record what I saw, heard, felt and smelled in the air] and explored nature,” said Pugliese. “These things helped me connect with nature myself and I realized that I wanted to help others connect with nature too.”
Kara chose to build a flower garden as her “Take Action” project – the next step in her journey to earning the Silver Award. With her idea in tow, she reached out to The Watermark at Trinity and asked if they would be interested in her building her garden at their community.
“Kara shared with us that gardening is something that her grandmother taught her and she wanted to share that with lots of other grandmas and grandpas,” said Aileen Carlson, executive director of The Watermark at Trinity. “We were thrilled by the idea and touched that she was so interested in the happiness of our residents.”
After hearing about Kara’s journey, The Watermark at Trinity offered to sponsor her project through Watermark for Kids – a national non-profit organization whose vision is to help deserving local kids thrive. The community paid for the flowers and all her supplies and also bought a plaque to commemorate the addition to their memory care courtyard.
The garden was dedicated on December 4, 2016. During the dedication, Kara taught a class to residents on connecting with nature. She described her journey and shared with them about the flowers that she chose for the garden.
“Our residents absolutely love the garden,” said Carlson. “It’s such a bright spot in our courtyard and it’s special knowing that a young girl wanted to do this for us.”
Kara is an 8th grade student at Seven Springs Middle School in New Port Richey and is a Cadette Girl Scout with the Girls Scouts of West Central Florida.
About The Watermark at Trinity
Located in Trinity, Fla., The Watermark at Trinity is a 117-apartment assisted living and memory care community in the Pasco County suburb of Trinity. Differentiators of the new community include certified staff, continuous care and hands-on educational programming. Owned and managed by Watermark Retirement Communities, The Watermark at Trinity is committed to creating an extraordinary community where people thrive.
About Watermark Retirement Communities, Inc.
In 2016, the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) ranked Tucson-based Watermark Retirement Communities as the sixteenth largest senior housing operator in the U.S. Watermark’s commitment to creating extraordinary communities where people thrive dates back 30 years to when it opened its first retirement community in 1987. A privately held company with a reputation of service, success, growth, integrity and financial stability, Watermark Retirement Communities manages 39 retirement communities coast to coast.