Local parks in Valparaiso received a generous tune up Saturday morning as volunteers came together to spread mulch as part of Valpo Parks Annual Neighborhood Park Volunteer Day. Community members worked from 9:00 a.m. to noon to show appreciation for some of their favorite areas for outdoor fun.
Valpo Parks continues to invest in their neighborhood parks, and the Neighborhood Park Volunteer Day serves as a way to get the residents that live near these wonderful spaces involved. As such, they distributed mulch at four of the parks and encouraged community members to come and help out with that.
Groups of volunteers met at four local parks: 200 East, Jessee-Pifer, Forest Park, and Kirchoff Park, where mounds of mulch and equipment generously supplied by the local Home Depot awaited them.
“We’re very fortunate that Home Depot donated all of the equipment so that people can just show up with their gloves and not have to worry about anything else,” Clifton said. “We love seeing people lend a hand and be a part of making this nice improvement happen for the parks.”
Volunteers got right to work, pulling weeds around the playground equipment before grabbing shovels and wheelbarrows to give the ground a fresh layer of mulch. Jake and Jennie Kerwin live just steps away from Jessee-Pifer, and wanted to play a part in maintaining the park that serves as a second backyard for them.
“We live right on this block so we’re here all the time,” Kerwin said. “We go to all the parks in the area, and we definitely want to keep the them looking nice.”
While this was Jennie’s first time participating in the Valpo Parks Neighborhood Volunteer Day, Jake has helped out in years past by planting trees. This year, the couple also brought along their young children Rose and Jacob with the hopes of teaching them the value of contributing to the community they live in. Rose wasted no time in taking this lesson to heart, her tiny pink shovel being the first to break into a pile.
“We want to teach our kids that you have to take care of the things that you like and show them the value of hard work,” Kerwin said. “That’s something that’s important to us, so we wanted them to experience this with us too.”
After a couple hours of teamwork and shoveling, the four local parks were left looking brand new and ready for continued community enjoyment.
The mulch plays a big part in the regular maintenance of the parks, and this act of volunteerism by Valparaiso residents will make a big difference for the community. To learn more about Valpo Parks and how to become a volunteer visit: http://valpoparks.org/508/Volunteer
