Press Release
Who We Are
The Newtown Florist Club was established in 1950 by a group of women who initially came together as a social club in the Newtown community. The four room homes in this historic community were built on top of a landfill after the 1936 tornado disaster recovery efforts. These incredible women deeply valued community life and the importance of family. They looked after neighborhood children to make sure that no one went hungry and that life was filled with love and laughter.
The Club evolved into a passionate group of social justice advocates by responding to pressing racial inequities adversely impacting community residents as they experienced enormous family losses caused by consistent toxic exposures. Members and neighbors suffered from various forms of throat, lung, colon cancer, and other respiratory illnesses as members (who were able) served as flower girls during funeral services.
For more than seven decades the Newtown Florist Club has worked to challenge unjust systems of power to improve race and community relations. Through the work of its Justice, History and Resource Center NFC has evolved into a stabilizing presence in Gainesville-Hall County, the Northeast Georgia region and across the rural South. Their accomplishments down through the years have adorned walls, filled scrapbooks, been the subject of state and national news stories and touched the hearts of those most vulnerable among us.
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Rev. Rose Johnson
Executive Director
Newtown Florist Club Inc.
ph:770.718.1343
Established 1950.
Who We Are
The Newtown Florist Club was established in 1950 by a group of women who initially came together as a social club in the Newtown community. The four room homes in this historic community were built on top of a landfill after the 1936 tornado disaster recovery efforts. These incredible women deeply valued community life and the importance of family. They looked after neighborhood children to make sure that no one went hungry and that life was filled with love and laughter.
The Club evolved into a passionate group of social justice advocates by responding to pressing racial inequities adversely impacting community residents as they experienced enormous family losses caused by consistent toxic exposures. Members and neighbors suffered from various forms of throat, lung, colon cancer, and other respiratory illnesses as members (who were able) served as flower girls during funeral services.
For more than seven decades the Newtown Florist Club has worked to challenge unjust systems of power to improve race and community relations. Through the work of its Justice, History and Resource Center NFC has evolved into a stabilizing presence in Gainesville-Hall County, the Northeast Georgia region and across the rural South. Their accomplishments down through the years have adorned walls, filled scrapbooks, been the subject of state and national news stories and touched the hearts of those most vulnerable among us.
​
-
Rev. Rose Johnson
Executive Director
Newtown Florist Club Inc.
ph:770.718.1343
Established 1950.
