At the Hollings Cancer Center downtown, volunteer gardeners are getting dirty while they beautify the outside garden.
Heading up the gardening efforts is Darcy Whalen, who started Simply Divine Garden, a nonprofit that plants an indoor or outdoor garden for people undergoing cancer treatments.
Whalen said that normally her group goes to the homes of the cancer patients.
However, since Hollings Cancer Center refers patients to Whalen, Whalen was asked to take care of the garden outside of Hollings. About once a week, volunteers come work in  the garden.
Whalen, whose mother lost her battle to breast cancer in January 2002, knew the importance that her mother’s garden played for her.
On her five acre lot in Virginia, Whalen’s mother was a college president who couldn’t wait to play in her garden.
Unfortunately, she was never able to.
Just a year old, Simply Divine Garden is a way for Whalen to carry on her mother’s passion and give back to others.
To date, the volunteers at Simply Divine Garden have planted 20 gardens.
“It is the most rewarding job, but I don’t even call it a job. Watching the recipient watch us planting a garden is sheer joy,” Whalen said.
Oftentimes, she explained, the recipient is in disbelief that someone would do something so nice.
“My mother taught me to always leave something better than I found it,” said Whalen who’s mantra is “Life begins in the garden.”
The nonprofit’s intent is for the garden to bring joy to someone all day and for one to have the strength to fight the disease.
“Being back in nature always makes me energized,” commented Whalen, thinking that cancer patients can experience the same feeling.
“I try to get the patients to take ownership of their garden. It is a good, positive thing to focus on,” she said.
Mount Pleasant resident Kay Dardozzi always loved her garden.
Dardozzi, who fought leukemia for 15 months and passed away in October, received her garden before the end of her life.
 “It really gave her a boost when volunteers came out here. She could reflect in her garden,” said Dardozzi’s husband, Louis.
Having grown up in Biloxi, Miss., Dardozzi and her mother shared great pride in their garden.
“She grew up in an environment that was quite flowerful,” Dardozzi explained, adding that  his wife would roam around, watching the volunteers at work, telling them how much she appreciated their efforts.
“It gave her a sense of life and growth. It touched the heart- her heart and mine,” he said.
Whalen plans to continue her rewarding job.
Many local businesses support Simply Divine Garden’s mission to bring gardens at no charge to community members in treatment for cancer.
The 5K Daisy Dash, sponsored by United Healthcare, was held in October to raise awareness for Simply Divine Garden.
On Oct. 13, Whalen accepted a $1500 grant from the East Cooper Breakfast Rotary.
For more information, visit www.simplydivinegarden.org.

(Helen Ravenel can be reached at helen@moultrienews.com.)