Kaaren Amodeo

How much can one group of women in hats and white gloves accomplish? Well, how about landscaping 17 miles of hillside, planting trees, and putting in a walking trail? Then throw in ten years of hard work, fundraising, and grant writing. One group of amazing women, the Oakmont Garden Club, has done all this and much more. "Allegheny River Boulevard was a terrible overgrown hillside," stated Kaaren Amodeo. The project started as a gift to the borough for its centennial. The women raised money to have an architect do a rendering of what the street could look like and then presented it to the borough. The gesture was appreciated but the borough didn’t have the money for the project. So the Garden Club decided to take on the task.

Turning her basement into "bow central," Kaaren and the other women began making large green bows to sell to benefit the Boulevard Project. Not wanting to be stuck with a cellar full of bows, Kaaren loaded up and carried the bows door to door throughout the community. “They were ten dollars a piece or whatever you could afford and you could place them on your doors, fences, and even your dog.” Kaaren chuckled as she reminisced. Her efforts were so successful that in March the borough received a call from a local paper that was wondering if everyone in the town was Irish because they saw the green bows on every house! They even had a large sign made that said "Oakmont's Pride," which sported a green bow as well. That was just the beginning. Now, about fifteen years and 3.7 million dollars later, Allegheny River Boulevard has undergone an incredible transformation.

“This was like a full time job. We worked on it forty hours a week,” Kaaren explained. One of the first things that they wanted to do was to make everyone understand what was involved in the task. They wanted it to be a community project, not just that of the garden club. They explained this as they sold the bows. The Boulevard project started out within a committee and turned into a commission for the borough. Their goal, which they realized, was to turn the project over to the borough after ten years and have them maintain it. The club raised money and worked hands-on to landscape 17 miles of hillside, plant trees, install gas lights, work sewer lines, create a walking trail, build sets of stairs connecting the boulevard to the avenue, and create a crossing at Hulton Road and Allegheny River Boulevard. For a little committee of the garden club this is quite an undertaking. And although the project was handed over to the borough, Kaaren has remains involved. "It is like a child, I don't want to abandon it." She, like other garden club members, is a member of the commission that oversees its upkeep. Kaaren is also involved with the historic restoration of the 4th & Delaware Kerr House Museum. Dr. Kerr, his wife, and daughter - who left the home to the borough as a museum - were the only people that lived in it; and they kept everything. “Sometimes it was a little hard to piece things together but it was a lot of fun.” The museum is open the first Saturday and second Wednesday of every month. During December they will have an exhibit every Saturday from 10am to 2pm. Kaaren encourages everyone to pay the museum a visit. "The house is filled with wonderful stories." If all this wasn't enough, she also sat on council for twelve years and is now the Treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce. At the end of September, the Chamber of Commerce ran an add in the paper to try to help out flood victims. They got over $20,200 in donations. Karen is in the process of getting the checks ready to go out. “Everyone who applied will be getting from $450 to $500.” In addition to cash donations, the Bilo's warehouse was donated to them so they set up a store for people who were devastated by the flood. They were able to come and shop for furniture and appliances. Since it is now closed the chamber donated everything they had left over to the Verona Food Bank and Sharpsburg for furniture distribution. Besides all these things, Kaaren also works out of her home as a massage therapist.

It is obvious after hearing a little about Kaaren’s life to see that she has an incredible sense of community and cares about those that live within hers. To watch the video, go to www.alle-kiskitoday.com/webcasts/1066