An Outstanding Success

Saturday dawned clear and cool, a perfect setting for National Public Lands Day here at J. Strom Thurmond COE.  It was amazing and very heartening to see all the people from surrounding communities, clubs and organizations come out to help make some of the COE parks a better place for everyone to enjoy.

Over 150 kids and adults turned out and they pitched right in.  A girl scout troop helped Marti with the weeding and mulching around several of the gate houses.

                 

With plastic buckets, the girls carried mulch from piles to the gate houses.

                  

A couple of the finished gate houses, now looking good for another season.

                    

                     

Another team, comprised of local college kids and soldiers from the Wounded Warrior Project pitched in to help cut and clear brush from some areas.  It was hard work, but in just a few hours all the work was done.

                    

                    

Even this little guy worked his heart out.

                     

All the bluebird houses were screwed together by another troop of girl scouts in record time.  The girls loved using battery powered drills to screw the pieces together (closely supervised by adults, of course!).

                     

Many trails were cleared, trash and debris that floated down along the dam was removed by divers and hauled away by Sea Tow boats.  Picnic tables and benches were stained, grills were cleaned and painted, there were many projects that kept every volunteer occupied.

However, we couldn’t end the morning of hard work without feeding these wonderful folks.  A cookout was put on for them.

                    

While the burgers and hot dogs were cooking, some games, like beanbag toss,

                    

and volley ball were available. 

                    

Where did they get the energy after all that hard work?

I helped out a little here and there too, and enjoyed my “feast”.

                    

A great day, good planning and willing volunteers made the National Public Lands Day at J. Strom Thurmond COE an outstanding success!  Judging from the interest and enthusiasm of these young kids, the future of our nation’s parks will be in good hands.  :c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.