08/21/2025
KD The Boulder Company, KD Outdoor Living and Downtown ROCs ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Midge Thomas Community Garden on Pleasant Street and St. Paul.
We try to donate and give back several times a year, whether it's sponsoring local high school sports teams, giving to pet rescues, or just a commemorative engraved stone for a special customer. I always say the world isn't nearly as bad as people think and the only thing we can all do is control our own actions. Put your differences aside, turn off the media, and just interact with people and i promise you'll agree!
So i received an email about making a small donation to help a build a community garden for National Woman's Hall of Fame inductee, Margaret "Midge" Thomas. This garden sits outside St Joe's church. I immediately responded to Mike Gilbert with a phone call and pictures of my office wall. I have dozens of pictures of stone buildings and churches, displayed on 2 walls, with Saint Joe's church being the only structure I have multiple pictures of! It's my favorite!! So I'm already hooked, then I find out who this garden is for, Midge Thomas, wife of the late Doctor Freddie Thomas. Well, I taught summer school at Freddie for 2 years during my tenure with the RCSD. After hearing what a remarkable person Midge is and all her accomplishments in the Rochester community, this was a no brainer!
We donated the bluestone boulders, the labor and the engraved rock, while Mike and his crew at Downtown rocs came in and did the plantings, which were donated by the Garden Factory, and the mulching.
Downtown rocs is a non for profit that goes into areas of Rochester and beautifys them, bringing color, hope and promise to an otherwise forgotten, neglected area. Yet... this won't make the news and if it did, it would be a small snippet in the final 30 seconds of the broadcast. These are the stories we need more of, and if everyone just does a little, it equals a lot!!
Super proud of the KD team and super proud to be a part of this project and I look forward to working in the future with Downtown Rocs and the City of Rochester.
Happy 99th Birthday to Margaret "Midge" Thomas
❤️
