Houseman Field clean up, Grand Rapids
“The Communications team wanted to find something new we could do to support the community,” explains Gilann Vail-Boisvenue, Manager-Communications Project Management. “Most of our team has done this type of work sometime during their lives, and they all understood the personal fulfillment that goes with community service projects.”
This experience was no exception. Therese Cooper, Communications Project Manager, was put in charge of crawling into the metal playground equipment that needed to be painted on the inside as well as the outside to cover up offensive graffiti. “It was tiring, messy work” she recalls, “but at the same time I kept thinking of the kids and parents who would be able to enjoy this playground more now. It was also a great time to be spent with my coworkers who give it their all no matter what they are doing. I think we laughed the entire time.”
Gary Pokorny, Communications Project Manager, was the first to arrive at the park in the morning. He took one look at it and went home to get his power tools (weed whacker, edger). On his way back to the park, Gary called two landscaping companies to tell them what they were doing. They both offered to donate sand for the sand boxes and bark for the playground.
“One of these companies came back two more times,” says Gary. “We finally had to tell them to stop, as we were so tired that we couldn’t spread one more load of bark. We left about two yards for the kids to finish spreading, which they did, joyfully.”
After about two hours of painting the playground equipment, lawn mowing, trimming, pulling weeds, picking up glass and other garbage, several children came out to help the team, working side by side.
There was one boy, Gamel, who was about 12 or 13 years old. Gary trained him how to manage the younger kids in the clean up effort, then put him in charge.
“It turns out that it was great that Gamel had found such an interest in the clean up effort,” says Gilann. “He was one of the kids who had sprayed the graffiti on the playground equipment! Gamel took ownership and our hopes are that he will stop and ask others not to graffiti his playground.”
“It was so cool to work together and accomplish something for someone else,” says Jeannie Davis, Communications Project Manager. “It wasn’t about us, it was about what we could do so others could enjoy their summer with family and friends. Who would have thought that just half a day of my time could produce such a self-rewarding result?”
“The Alticor group was fantastic!” says Kelly Otto, Community Organizer, Midtown Neighborhood Association “The playground looks beautiful and, lo’ and behold, within hours the place was chock full of neighborhood youngsters playing on the newly cleaned, painted, mulched and generally beautified playground. WOW! and THANKS! The kids finished spreading mulch, and continued down the block with picking up litter and debris!”
