My aching back, neck, arms, and quads are evidence to the above statement originally made by Ralph White, former director of the James River Park System. The Earth Lodge and Intro GIS classes met this environmental leader earlier today in the same place that I began working on my first 4 service hours — Pony Pasture, currently an orange and yellow wonderland with a biting, frigid wind coming up from the waters. When I came to volunteer, it was much warmer. Surprinsingly little trash was found on the trails, so I got to enjoy the views as I climbed over rocks to check every nook and cranny. My service partner for that day, Andrew, and I quickly moved onto Huguenot Flatwaters for more work.
The situation in Huguenot Flatwaters was much different. Several suitable vistas were ruined by rusted out and tipped garbage cans, not to mention tons of fishing line. We made a visisble difference in the beauty of the park and other people noticed. One couple walking along a trail saw our nitrile gloves and black trash bags and asked what we were up to. They thanked us for our service and it seemed like they would consider doing similar volunteer work themselves.
Fast forward to today — the muscle pain I feel is from raking leaves for about 3 hours straight this past Saturday with many other people in Earth Lodge. Originally, we thought we would be working on a farmlet at the William Byrd Community House. However, we raked and swept leaves off the front path, playground area, and two parking lots with the reasoning that the children who frequent the Community House might slip on wet leaves. The leaves are later tilled into the soil on the farmlet to increase the organic matter in the soil and improve soil quality. All that raking and collecting of leaves in trash bags reminded me of my childhood. My father, brother and I would go into the yard and collect most of the leaves. Some we would leave to decompose naturally and help out soil. My favorite part of the whole job was sitting on trash bags, letting all of my weight squish the leaves, so that more room would be available for the next pile. I taught this technique to Kerry, a fellow classmate who helped clear the parking lots with me.
So what has this trash collecting and leaf raking done for me, my class, and my community? It brought my classmates and I to the river and to other areas in Richmond that are related to the community as a whole. We made these areas more safe and sanitary for other community users. In my case, I got to interact with community leaders like Cheryl Kosakowski, the volunteer coordinator at William Byrd Community House, in addition to community members like the couple iat Huguenot Flatwater.
Who knows? Maybe I’m becoming an environmental leader myself.