Those who volunteer are inspired to do so for many different reasons — a sense of duty, a fondness for charity, perhaps a chance to share their skills.
For Judy Youngbluth, Ambulatory Case Manager, Custer Clinic Primary Care, it’s a combination of civic pride and the opportunity to pay tribute to her late mother-in-law.
Judy lives in Hot Springs, one of three towns in which she works, including Hill City and her main office in Custer. She volunteers for the organization Keep Hot Springs Beautiful, the mission of which is to “stimulate community pride and increase individual responsibility in beautification and litter reduction through environmental education and programs.”
“In the spring, we go around and pick up garbage to keep the town clean. I’ve done that for a few years,” says Judy.
Her main interest, though, is to maintain two “bump-outs” along Hot Springs’ main downtown business loop. The bump-outs are small garden plots that volunteers care for by planting flora and ensuring the gardens stay watered and clean. Keep Hot Springs Beautiful charmingly calls such volunteers the “Bump Out Brigade.”
From spring to fall, Judy and her three friends plant and care for roses, marigolds and other types of plants and flowers. They try to keep the gardens deer-resistant so they don’t get eaten as soon as they bloom.
Other times of the year, the Brigaders dress up the bump-outs in celebration of a holiday or to represent a seasonal theme.
“We put decorations out for the fall, and then we’ll put some out for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. We put flags out for various things like Flag Day and Memorial Day,” she says. “It’s just kind of a little women’s outing. We try and coordinate. We’ll bring coffee and we visit as we’re working because we’re all friends and working together. But we love the comments when people drive by and say, ‘Hey that looks great.’”
Part of her motivation, though, is to preserve the memory of her mother-in-law, Dee Youngbluth.
“My sister-in-law is part of this group. Her mom, my mother-in-law, worked at the local greenhouse in Hot Springs. She loved flowers, and I grew to love flowers. I always wanted to learn more about them and take care of them,” says Judy. “After she passed away a few years ago, a friend of theirs had a bench put in one of the bump-outs in her honor, and that’s the bump-out we wanted. It wasn’t available then, so we took another one close by. Last year that bump-out became available, so now we have two bump-outs.”
Most recently, Judy and company decorated their bump-outs in celebration of Labor Day.
At her job, Judy helps ensure rural patients get the health care they need. She brings that same sense of determined pride to her efforts to keep her small, rural hometown beautiful indeed.
Photos courtesy of Judy Youngbluth
Story by Kory Lanphear