Starting off our Spring 2018 Service Season, the Cave
Dwellers, Alligator Lizards, and Sea Stars joined forces at Happy Valley Park
to continue work on our Connelly Creek Service Site. This site has been adopted
by the Boys Explorers Club who has been working for over five years to restore
the once blackberry infested junkyard to a promising stand of native plants and
trees. As the eldest group, the Cave Dwellers had the most experience so they
took some time to teach the younger Alligator Lizards how to safely use the
tools. While our tool demo was wrapping up with Sea Stars showed up and we all
grouped together to get started on our work for the day.
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| Circling up for a tool demonstration |
To start things off for the season we had a very straight
forward task; weeding of the wired cages, spot removal of blackberries, and
plenty of spreading mulch. Getting to work everyone teamed up with their
friends and found a project to work on. While some Explorers used Hori-Horis to
dig up weeds and blackberry roots, others loaded up buckets of mulch, while
even more ferried the mulch to be spread over the recently weeded areas. Others
found patches of Reed Canary Grass to walk down and mulch over. Oftentimes
mentors are required to be task-masters and micro manage the Explorers to
ensure all the work gets done. Luckily, however, today was not one of those
days. The three groups worked hard from start to finish, stayed on task, were
safe and respectfully using the tools, and everyone even seemed to be enjoying
themselves! This was wonderful for the mentors to see and made for a fun, laid
back day of service for all involved.
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| Shoveling mulch! |
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| Hauling mulch! |
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| Dumping mulch! |
With most of the mulch pile moved and our time running short
we gathered together and played a big game of Fire in the Forest together to
celebrate our hard work. Not only was it great to see all three groups working
and playing so well together, but the beauty was in the greater context. We had
older groups and younger groups. There were Boys Explorers Club and Girls
Explorers Club groups. Our goal for the day was service and giving back working
hard for something greater than ourselves. With all these variables mixing
together it was inevitably a fantastic day and so much fun to be a part of.
Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing here!
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