"We started with 11 piles of dirt and 80 flats of flowers and now we have a garden," Ms. Betten said, as she admired the scene. Nearly 30 volunteers with shovels, rakes and spades worked to plant hundreds of petunias in neat rows along the islands bordering the plaza parking lot.
Calling the planting effort "Pay it Forward Day," Ms. Betten hopes to encourage West Mifflin residents to begin offering good deeds to strangers with no expectation of repayment, except that recipients provide a similar good deed for another stranger.
The pay-it-forward concept was popularized by a 2000 movie of the same name that was based on the book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde.
Ms. Betten has always been an advocate of community service and is heavily involved with the West Mifflin School District, including an initiative called E.A.R, that promotes effort, attitude and respect among middle scholars.
Mr. Deramo brought his two young daughters to the event and did his share of digging. He said the E.A.R. program is a unique way to reward students for attributes other than grades.
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