MOUNDSVILLE – To celebrate West Virginia Day and spotlight what local people can do to beautify our community, the Marshall County Family Resource Network led efforts Tuesday to beautify the historic federal building in Moundsville.
The effort involved the nine FRN employees, Kim DeBold from DeBold & Co., Bryan Robinson, Dottie Robinson and two employees from Steel Valley Properties. All devoted Tuesday to planting flower beds in three prominent spots around the nearly 100-year-old building at the corner of Route 2 and 7th Street.
They also planted flower pots, trimmed the bushes, cut the grass, pulled weeds and did general cleanup work around the building’s outside.
“We are proud of our building and we want everyone to see its beauty,” said Stacie Dei, executive director of the Marshall County FRN. “This was important for us to do our part in beautifying our community. We want to encourage others to take a few hours of hard work and a little bit of money to turn your business, home or office into something to be proud of.”
FRN employees, Bryan Robinson, DeBold & Co., Steel Valley Properties and a generous donation from Klug’s Greenhouse in Marshall County paid for the flowers and other supplies.
“The flowers that were provided by Klug’s were beautiful and spruced up the outside of the historic federal building nicely,” Dei said.
The idea for the cleanup came from Dei, whose nonprofit agency has been involved in community development efforts in Marshall County.
Bryan Robinson, whose father Jacob Robinson bought the building at auction in 2002, said he was gratified by the work done by the FRN and DeBold & Co.
“My family and I are so appreciative of the tenants and the people working here taking a day to help us make our building shine,” Robinson said. The Robinsons were assisted by Bobby Grimmett and Greg Thomas.
“Stacie deserves a lot of the credit,” Bryan Robinson said. “This was her idea, she organized it and followed through all the way.”
The historic federal building is owned by the Robinson family. The two-story, stone building has a projecting central portico and iconic columns and flat roof.
The FRN employees were Dei, Latrisha Whitelatch, Alicia Menendez, Kimberli Green, Megan Burrough, Dara Pond, Mike Drosieko, Paul Gough and Theresa Parsons.