Hundreds of volunteers spread out across Maple Valley, Covington, Black Diamond and surrounding areas to do something to make the community a little bit better on Saturday, Oct. 23.
Wet weather and overcast skies did not deter anyone from getting out and working on Make a Difference Day, said Scott Cookman, chair of the Maple Valley Rotary’s Make a Difference Day committee.
“Even though the rain was touch-and-go, the volunteers showed up ready to work,” Cookman said in an e-mail.
Projects in Maple Valley ranged from replacing the storage shed roof, spreading dirt and planting grass, pulling weeds and planting shrubs at the Greater Maple Valley Community Center, cleaning park benches, sweeping trail systems and cleaning the roof of the Maple Valley Historical Society’s museum. Other projects included installation of bike racks at Lake Wilderness Park, planting along the Maple Valley Highway by the Tahoma High Green Team, the installation of an irrigation system and construction of a covered recycling area at Glacier Park Elementary.
Victoria Laise Jonas, who has participated in Make a Difference Day for well over a decade, said she thought the event “went very well.”
“It was a very inspiring day to see so many volunteers working on so many different projects in our community,” Jonas said in an e-mail. “It warms my heart to see entire families coming together and volunteering. The Rotarians breakfast was the best yet — their group is like a well oiled machine.”
In addition, there was work in Black Diamond to paint the main hall of the community center while work was done at the Black Diamond Historical Society on the retaining wall, the drainage ditch, the porch of the museum and plantings at Lake Sawyer Park.
A major project in Covington, sponsored by the city, was at Jenkins Creek Park, explained Parks and Recreation Director Scott Thomas.
“Every year we do a Make a Difference Day project and sometimes it’s more of a public works oriented project,” Thomas said. “Getting Jenkins Creek Park open was a big push this year. We’ve learned through the PROS plan process (parks, recreation and open space plan) — which was adopted in May — that this was a big concern in the community.”
Due to a number of factors, including vandalism and graffiti, Jenkins Creek Park has been in part or entirely closed in recent years. Thomas explained that service days such as Earth Day and Make a Difference Day really illustrated how important re-opening the park has been to the community. In April on Earth Day more than 100 volunteers showed up for a work party at the park, which was far more than was anticipated, Thomas said.
There was a significant amount of work done at the park over the summer, though.
“So, for make a difference day we wanted to… spruce it up and painting those gateways that had been neglected so we could give (the park) a nice front door,” Thomas said. “I think it’s fabulous that those arches are now painted. They have never been painted in the 20 year history of the park, and one in particular had been graffitied fairly recently, so now we have these nice attractive archways.”
More than 40 volunteers showed up at Jenkins Creek Park, Thomas said, including members of Girl Scout Troop 41672 to help make the park look nicer and more welcoming to visitors.
