The true value of service

Culver Academies students

volunteer to clean park, plant trees

By SHARON GARDNER
Tribune Correspondent

 

Megan Millard, right, and her mother, Donna Millard, clean up debris at the beach. Katie Capron, left, a Culver Academies sophomore from Washington, D.C., and Desi Wolff, a freshman from Zionsville, Ind., show off the grime they've accumulated while cleaning a fountain they termed "toxic." Tribune Photos/SHARON GARDNER A group of Culver Academies students plant a tree in the town park Sunday in Culver. Tribune Photo/SHARON GARDNER Friends of the Park Culver resident Patty Stallings has been gathering support for an independent citizen committee called Friends of the Park. Anyone who wants to help with the continued beautification of the park should call the Culver Chamber of Commerce at (574) 842-LAKE, leave a message, and Stallings will return the call.

   CULVER -- More than 280 students from the Culver Academies converged on the town park Sunday afternoon to participate in National Youth Service Day and to leave a tangible mark on the town.

   The students prepared flower beds for the season, built mulch rings around trees, filled barbecue grills with rocks, cleaned up the Indian trails at the east end of the park and raked and cleaned in various areas of the park. In addition to these labor-intensive tasks, volunteers planted 62 trees in the park.

   Their efforts overwhelmed park board President Ed Behnke.

   "This is extravagant," he said. "It would have been years before we would have had the money to do this."

   Behnke explained the small park raises 80 percent of its operating costs -- the majority of which go to maintaining the playground and the buildings -- through pier rentals and parking fees in the summer.

   "We've been hoping for at least 10 years to do something like this," Behnke said.

   He went on to explain that because the piers will be needing some major work in the near future, landscaping such as that accomplished Sunday would have been at least another seven or eight years down the road.

   "This all happened as a result of one person's efforts," Behnke said. "The credit has to go to that young lady."

   The young lady Behnke referred to is Culver Academies sophomore Megan Millard, who came up with the idea of planting the trees.

   Last September, she approached Dean of Girls Laura Weaser, who suggested Megan take her idea to the Community Service Council, which is made up of representatives from each of the dorms on campus. Megan then began working with Anne Kelley, one of the Community Service Council advisers.

   Needing a town contact, Megan and Kelley approached Susie Mahler, who owns Café Max, 113 S. Main St., and Culver Reservations. Mahler took the fund-raising reins of the project and lassoed donations for a master landscaping plan, which was presented to the park board at its March 9 meeting.

   Since then, Mahler has had the plans displayed in Café Max, publicizing the fact that in order to plant the 62 trees, the project needed public support and donations. Trees could be sponsored for about $400 and would become lasting memorials to the people who made the donations. Mahler said that of the 62 trees planted Sunday, 45 have been sponsored. Café Max, provided the money to buy the trees initially and is being reimbursed as the trees are sponsored by others.

   Pictures of the trees that have been sponsored are hanging on the walls in Café Max. Some are signed by those who made the donations. Some were bought in memory of someone else. The location of the 17 trees still available can be seen there, as well.

   Mahler is hoping support will continue and all of the trees will be sponsored.

   As the project got under way Sunday morning, Kelley remarked, "This is beyond our wildest dreams.  When we first got started we didn't know what to expect.

   "We're really grateful that the park board gave its approval and that the community has supported us so that we could teach the importance of service to our students."

   Quick to share the credit for the project with all of the volunteers, Megan said she was "very excited" about the results of the service project.

   "We just wanted to do something to make a difference," she said, "and we are."

   Being a part of something big like the park project can bring the community together and fight homesickness for so many of the Academy students who live in different parts of the country, she said.

   Megan, who hails from Greenville, S.C., expects to participate in further service projects in the park over the next couple of years. She spoke of future plans the park board has and wants to be part of making those happen.

   More than 50 adult volunteers -- comprising various members of town boards, organizations and businesses, as well as faculty from the Academies, parents of students and local residents -- were on hand Sunday morning, but by early afternoon, twice that number had gathered to help.

   Professional landscapers Gene Reichard of Culver, Tony Sellers of Monterey and Michael Fellow from Price Nurseries trained volunteers in various tasks. Both Mahler and Behnke expressed special gratitude to Reichard, park board Vice President Leon Bennett and Don Stubbs of Stubbs Excavating for donating extra time and effort to the project.