Traveling along U.S. 98 from Lumberton Road to Sumrall Road, drivers will see three trees full of stars.
Carlton Thornhill with Stars of Hope, along with Stephanie Guidroz and Holli Powell, decorated the trees Monday in an effort to shed some hope during the coronavirus pandemic.
Locally, Hearts of Hope came to be after the 2014 tornado that claimed three lives in Columbia. Once that happened Thornhill dived in head first with it and hasn’t looked back. Through social media, Jeff Parness, founder of the New York Says Thank You Foundation, contacted Thornhill and introduced Thornhill to Stars of Hope.
Thornill said some of the stars hanging were painted by people in Marion County and also from areas where tragedy has struck, such as San Bernardino and Sandy Hook.
Most of the stars offer messages of hope to be shared during dark times.
“If it changes just one person’s day for the better, then we did our job,” he said.
Thornhill said, “The virus is universal, but so is hope.”
