Memorial Day Post Pandemic in Avalon Park

Tobi Oliveri

After living in a yearlong pandemic, the country was able to come together to celebrate this year’s Memorial Day and Avalon Park was no exception. The Rotary Club, which is a non-profit organization that holds events within Avalon Park, took this time to unify the community in honoring the men and women who have passed serving in the military.

“The Rotary Club of Avalon Park is one club belonging to a much larger global organization, Rotary International,” president-elect of the Rotary Club, James McQueeney said, “The Rotary Motto is ‘Service Above Self’ and our individual clubs serve our local communities through a variety of service projects and fundraising events.”

Avalon Park is the center of a diverse community located in east Orlando, FL. It contains 1,860-acres of neighborhoods in which many families of different backgrounds call home. Events in Avalon Park take place monthly and bring in a lot of traction for family and friends to enjoy.

For Memorial Day weekend, the Rotary Club comes together to place miniature American flags around the community. Lisa McQueeny came up with this idea about six years ago in her prior community and decided to bring the tradition of community and patriotism to Avalon Park.

“The Rotary Club of Avalon Park simply continued the flag project to continue that sense of community and pride in our country,” McQueeny said, “During the pandemic, we believe it was more important than ever to keep up with single gestures such as placing flags.”

The pandemic has brought a gray haze upon the world, changing the way everyone lived their lives. McQueeny and the Rotary Club felt this was a perfect time to bring the community even closer together.

“[I]t is a small gesture that everyone can see to remember the holiday and feel like they are celebrating.” Lana Phillips, a member of the community said.

This past year the community has been unable to celebrate to the full extent like before the pandemic.

“[W]e are excited to see more public events taking place and more community involvement,” McQueeney said.

“[A]s we are slowly coming to the end of this pandemic, the events that are usually held in Avalon will come back,” Phillips said. Though the community will have to keep safety precautions in mind, everyone is excited to start getting back to the way things were before.

As the world enters happier days, involvement in normal life is encouraged and will unify everyone once again.

To learn more about the Rotary Club of Avalon Park, visit Rotary.org. The Rotary Club of Avalon Park holds meetings every Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. at the Pavilion in Avalon Park. McQueeny encourages anyone who might be interested to come to check out what being a part of the Rotary Club is all about.

Sources: James McQueeney Email: jimmcqueeney@ gmail.com Phone Number: 407-3068238

Lana Phillips Email: lphillips5375@ gmail.com Phone Number: 407-6332065

Rotary Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/www.rotaryclubofavalonpark.org