From left, Emily Stumpner, Christina Walter and Erin Fugh, staff members at Concordia at the Orchard, 104 Concordia Way, receive flowers donated to frontline health care workers by the Penn State Master Gardeners of Butler County.

As residents grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Penn State Master Gardeners of Butler County donated 362 plants across the community.

Each year Penn State Master Gardeners across the state purchase and grow plants that they sell at fundraisers.

Due to the pandemic, this year’s fundraisers had to be canceled.

Now with an unexpected surplus of plants, Master Gardeners donated more than 8,000 plants to food pantries, community gardens, churches, hospitals and senior living communities statewide.

In Butler County, Master Gardeners donated 214 plants to food pantries, community gardens and food insecure families and 148 plants to health care workers at Butler Memorial Hospital and the Concordia at the Orchard assisted living facility.

The 148 plants were sent as a way to say “thank you” to Butler County’s healthcare workers and were purchased by the Master Gardeners from four local greenhouses.