DD and I spent the morning with a really fun family from South Toledo picking up trash on the Fallen Timbers Battlefield as part of Global Youth Service Day. NW Ohio did a nice job of engaging kids in the program. Metroparks had lots of kids out. The good news is that there wasn't a horrible amount of trash to be picked up.
Getting Ready
Big Brother
Little Sister
Fearless Leaders, Janet, Trina, Randy
Hardest working young lady and my honorary grand-daughter, Little Miss Avery
The biggest thing we found, which I kept, was about 3/4 of the original FT Project house sign, complete with an arrowhead icon and the Mparks oak tree icon. Sheesh.
Hopefully, the days of finding this type--or any type of trash--in the Mparks is over. With new leadership, we sincerely hope that the District will return to its roots and not spend any time trying to earn awards that no one gives a hoot about--like the Baldridge award. Before the last regime took over, Mparks earned tons of awards just doing what they are supposed to do. The amount of time, effort, and capital spent in the past 8 years on idiotic stuff like this was totally unacceptable.
Now that Mparks is facing a financial hernia in the next few years, let's hope the new administration puts the parks first. They need to treat the staff with dignity and respect, something that hasn't happened for 8 years. Were the parks perfect prior to the last administration? No. But were they in horrible shape, both physically, morally, and even spiritually? Again, no.
It's time to get back to doing what we do best.
