Rev. Diane Dougherty ARCWP Speaks at Interfaith Memorial in Memory of COVID-19 Deaths in Georgia

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Lucian Hargrove, 8, helps plant some of the 15,000 flags on the lawn of First Christian Church of Decatur on Saturday, February 20, 2021. The flags represent the number of COVID-19 deaths in Georgia, and the effort aims to raise awareness about the toll of the coronavirus. (Photo: Steve Schaefer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The loss of 500,000 Americans boggles the mind, 15000 of which were in Georgia Saturday-today 16313. 

With members of the Federation of Christian Ministries and my friend Tim Franzen, who is director of the American Friends Service, I asked the Pastor at a local church if we could use the lawn to create  the memorial....he was just delighted and helped contact churches in the area,10 of which collaborated with us. I designed 15 quadrants for 1000 flags and organized participants to put 250 in each area while remaining socially distant.  With such a multitude of teams...we finished in 1 1/2 hours-which included clean up. Sunday we had an opening blessing (see decaturish) and each day a minister will be there for 1/2 hour to pray at noon and 5PM with those who want to talk about the grief they feel.  As we reflected-everyone knew someone that died of COVID and came to work on the memorial as an effort to do something for souls lost.  Today the Pastor met someone at noon standing over the flags crying.  His wife died yesterday. " Diane Dougherty ARCWP

https://www.ajc.com/neighborhoods/dekalb/photos-church-displays-flags-representing-covid-19-deaths-in-georgia/LJL3U4CJHRFRLHNSO6AZ2ZLG2Y/

https://decaturish.com/2021/02/display-of-15000-flags-at-first-christian-church-of-decatur-memorializes-covid-victims/

 Reverend Paul M. Turner, Pastor James Brewer Calvert, and Reverend Diane Dougherty speak in front of First Christian Church of Decatur on Sunday, February 21. Photo by Alex Brown