VOLUNTEERS COMPLETE TRAIL, OTHER PROJECTS AT YMCA
PI KAPPA ALPHA VOLUNTEERS BUILD TRAILS AT YMCA
POTOSI – YMCA Trout Lodge
On Saturday and Sunday March 20th and 21st, dozens of students from Missouri University of Science and Technology's fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha volunteered time at YMCA Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood. YMCA Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood board members and staff also volunteered their time.
(SEE PICTURES HERE)
Volunteer projects included trail maintenance for hiking and equestrian trails, painting the interior walls of the Camp Lakewood gymnasium, spreading wood chips in program areas and other indoor projects at Camp Lakewood's Pioneer Village.
YMCA Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood Properties Director Jerry Reed estimates that the 47 volunteers at Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood completed approximately 2,000 feet of equestrian trail on Saturday and Sunday. The YMCA’s Triangle Y Ranch staff, which lead trail rides for YMCA guests and campers, will utilize the new trail.
Daniel Winning, YMCA Trout Lodge TEAM Works Director, oversaw a group of volunteers on Saturday and Sunday who were spreading mulch in Trout Lodge program areas.
“The work weekend was a much needed helping hand. What would have taken my staff and I about two weeks to do our volunteers did in two days. They spread roughly 120 yards of wood chips. That is equivalent to 2 tractor-trailer loads of wood chips. The fresh wood chips keep our guest from having to walk in the mud and they make our program areas look much prettier,” said Winning.
Reed was also appreciative of the volunteers’ time and efforts,
“When you add up the hours the volunteers worked, I estimate that we received about $4,400 in labor this weekend. This was a great group of kids. They worked hard, and they did an excellent job.”
Pi Kappa Alpha volunteers assisting with hiking and equestrian trail maintenance were lead by Robert Crampton, President and "Chief Trail Hugger" of Volunteers for Outdoor Missouri (VFOM), a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to building "a force of volunteer workers that provides the resources for state, county, and cities to draw upon, in building and maintaining sustainable recreational trails."
Crampton, said, “VFOM feels it is very important to develop partnerships with groups like the YMCA in developing trails be they hiking, mountain biking or natural trails. This partnership enables VFOM to fulfill its mission statement of working with community groups of building and training the users on building and maintaining sustainable trails.”
Another volunteer workday will be held on Saturday May 1st at Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood. Interested volunteers should contact Jerry Reed at 573-428-2154 extension 135 or jreed@ymcastlouis.org.
More information on Volunteers for Outdoor Missouri can be found online at www.vfom.org.
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The YMCA of the Ozarks, a family and corporate retreat center and residential summer camp, sits on 5,000 acres of Missouri’s Eastern Ozarks on beautiful Sunnen Lake. Together, YMCA Trout Lodge and YMCA Camp Lakewood are the YMCA of the Ozarks. YMCA TEAM Works is a program of YMCA of the Ozarks.
The YMCA of the Ozarks will put Christian principles into practice through the use of its programs, facilities and natural surroundings that strengthen family life, provide for positive value development, foster health and physical fitness through the teaching of outdoor skills, promote intercultural understanding, and educate for the stewardship of the earth and its resources.
The YMCA of the Ozarks is a branch of the YMCA Association of Greater St. Louis.
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For more information about the YMCA of the Ozarks, please visit www.ymcaoftheozarks.org or call 1-888-FUN-YMCA.
To arrange an interview or to speak directly with the marketing department at YMCA of the Ozarks, contact Melissa Gilliam, Director of Marketing, at 314-241-9622 or 573-438-2154, Ext. 230.