The morning of September 27th, I read an email announcing Joint Service Week and encouraging us to engage with our fellows at Kiwanis, Lions and Optimist clubs to collaborate on work parties the week of October 10th-16th. My thought process went, “That’s only two weeks away! Who’s going to be able to coordinate a work party, with another organization in that amount of…WAIT! We already have one scheduled for the 10th! We just need to invite the Lions!” So we reached out to the Poulsbo Lions Club, and they were eager to work together. Additionally, they brought their high school group, LEOs, and we brought our local Interact club, so we had a veritable army of good folks, out to serve their community.
We met up at Raab Park, here in Poulsbo, and tackled two projects. The first was to finish a brand-new hiking trail in the forested part of the park. The local parks director said, the day after, that the combined team, “had crushed it!”
We also tackled the outdoor basketball court at the park. Not only was it covered with pine needles and leaves, the overhanging branches promised to deliver more of the same. So, we cleaned up the court (many wheelbarrows full of needles and leaves), trimmed back the overhanging branches, then set to work cleaning up the fenceline, where grass and weeds were growing up and through the chain-link.
At the end of the day, much had been accomplished, including development of a great partnership, and the parting comment from one of the lead Lions was, “Let us know when you want to do this again!”
