April 25, 2011

 

After several days of cold rain, the sky cleared, the sun came out and we had perfect weather for a very successful Comcast Cares event last week on the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail. For the 3rd year in a row the great people at Comcast provided an army of skilled volunteers to do projects that clean and beautify the trail.

Known as “Comcast Cares Day” the event resulted in nearly 140 people showing up ready to work. The majority of volunteers were made up of Comcast employees but also included Boy Scouts from Pack 3283 and some of our own “Friends” membership.

On Thursday April 21st, the preparation for the event started at the staging area in the rear of Plainfield Township Hall. Roseanne Stewart from Comcast oversaw the process of setting up all the food, t-shirts, water, gloves, snacks, drinks and dozens of pizzas that were provided for all the volunteers.

At 4:00 p.m. the volunteers started showing up and listened to short speeches by Representative Pete McGregor (pictured below), Senator Mark Jansen, Township Clerk Scott Harvey, Township Trustee Chuck Weldon and Chris McGraw from Comcast. After some brief instructions and comments from me it was off to work.

The volunteer work force fanned out along the trail from North Park Street in Grand Rapids all the way up to Rockford. They built a split rail fence by 5/3 ball park, picked up trash, cleared / inspected storm drains, installed rubble control devices at the wash-out site to prevent the drain from being plugged, trimmed brush, removed old / unsightly silt control barriers, cut up and removed downed trees, and left the trail in that section SPOTLESS!

With the number of volunteers that Comcast provided, we were able to get more done in a 4 hour time span than we typically get done in a years’ worth of our smaller volunteer work days. Everyone that uses the trail will benefit from their efforts.

I want to give a GREAT BIG THANKS from the “Friends” to all the volunteers that showed up to help and especially to Comcast for making the day possible. I would also like to thank Michigan Senator Mark Jansen and Michigan Representative Peter MacGregor for stopping by to thank, visit with, and encourage all the volunteers. It was truly a highly successful event!

I want to close by showing you a short YouTube video of the event and at the same time introduce a new technology that I hope to be using more for our organization. That little picture at the right that looks like an empty crossword puzzle is a QR code. QR stands for Quick Response. It connects the offline world with the online world using the ubiquitous smart phones. All you need to do is point a smart phone, that has a QR reader app loaded on it, at the QR code and it will take you instantly to the YouTube video. The QR app can be downloaded in seconds (for free) from any app store on your phone. Let me know how it works for you. I see many possibilities for our organization using it out on the trail where many times people have their phone easily accessible. Without a computer, or needing to write down a lengthy web address, they can instantly access information about our organization and our activities without unsightly signs. If you don’t have a smart phone you can watch the video by clicking here.

If you have any comments, stories or notes of appreciation regarding the event, please hit reply and send them to me. I will make sure they get passed along to our benefactors at Comcast!

By the way the trail is being swept to remove any gravel or sand that accumulated over the winter! The contractor has started at the south end and is working his way north. Please remember that the north end had snow on it last week! The trail will be clean soon.

I look forward to seeing you out on our newly beautified trail! Thanks again Comcast!