WESTFIELD – Westfield has been overrun by pink flamingos! No cause for alarm, but it has some residents asking: what the flock?
The flamingos or flocks, as Amy Larew calls them, are one of South Middle School’s fundraisers to help fund the eighth-graders’ trip to Washington D.C. at the end of May.
This is Larew’s first time “flocking.”
Larew said, “It’s a blast!” The project began on April 8 and will run through May 27.
Every night four flocks of 15 flamingoes get moved to a new location throughout the city by thirteen student-parent teams, Larew said. The teen volunteers, who sell or move flocks–it costs $10 to flock someone–have money donated towards the cost of their DC trip.
“This allows for the kids to spend about an hour having fun with their parents,” said Larew, who is a mother of an eighth-grader.
Larew said this is the first time that she, along with her fundraising partner, Aimee Tompkins, have used flamingoes for fundraising.
It appears that those getting flocked have also had a blast.
A lawn is adorned with a flock of pink flamingoes as part of South Middle School’s fundraising effort to support the eighth-graders’ trip to Washington DC (submitted photo).
One resident who was flocked wrote on Facebook’s We Love Westfield Community Forum page: “prettiest flock north of Florida.”
Resident Katherine Bentrewicz, who woke up to a lawn covered in pink on April 11, posted on Facebook: “Best morning, EVER!! I woke up to a flock of these beauties in my yard!! If that doesn’t put you in a good mood for the day, I’m not sure what will!”
However, if a person does not want to get flocked, they can buy flockers insurance, which costs $20, Larew said.
“We sold five insurance policies,” but one gentleman was already scheduled to be flocked before he bought his policy, so he had to endure a flocking before the policy went into effect, Larew said with a chuckle.
Larew was so excited about this fundraising effort that she bought the birds last October from Craigslist. She had to drive to Connecticut to pick them up and returned to Westfield with 30 flamingoes six months before she needed them.
South Middle School began the fundraising effort with 60 flamingoes, including 30 on loan from the Westfield Athenaeum.
Then the unthinkable happened: birds started disappearing. The larceny even made the Westfield Police logs with an account of stolen flamingos reported at 8:01 a.m. on April 23.
Several were taken here and there, and then on April 18 a couple more were taken, followed by 10 stolen on April 22, for a total of 30 missing flamingoes, Larew said, explaining how infuriated she was.
A resident provided 15 flamingoes to replace the stolen ones plus Larew purchased four cases of birds from Dollar Tree using donations from the community.
“We were down to two flocks (30 birds) for only three days,” she said.
“I love this community,” said Larew, “They really came together when we lost nearly half of our birds.”
Along with a “flocking happy dance,” Larew boasted on Facebook’s We Love Westfield Community Forum page on April 26: “I am SUPER HAPPY to announce because of this GREAT FANTASTIC SPECTACULAR city’s support we will be back to FOUR flocks tonight!”
On Monday, Larew said all orders for flocks for the rest of the campaign have been sold, raising approximately $2,300 for the eighth-graders’ trip. While residents can’t place any new orders to flock their neighbors, they still have about three weeks to enjoy seeing the pink flamingoes roam around the city.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
Follow her on Twitter @charnoskyWNG
