Huffman Community Park Project Takes Off by Erin Kirkland

Saturday's scheduled Clean-Up day is growing like the grass! While we spiff up Trinity's inside and out, a bunch of folks from Trinity, Huffman Elementary, and the O'Malley/Huffman Community Council will be across the street spiffing up the often-used but seldom-maintained Huffman Community Park.

I walked the park last week with the Municipality of Anchorage's Forester and we agreed the park needs some serious help to support its use. Between then and now our volunteer roster jumped by leaps and bounds and now we are anticipating upwards of 40 people on Saturday morning. Whoa. I'd better get more gloves.

The project will begin at Trinity no later than 8 a.m. this Saturday, May 15, so if you want in on this morning/early afternoon of clearing Devil's Club (now doesn't that sound like fun), piling brush, and meeting your neighbors, meet in front of Trinity's front doors with gloves on, to help us. I promise it will be a rewarding day.

Did I mention a fabulous barbeque lunch will also be served? Yep. The greatest.

Participants should bring and/or wear:

Long pants/shirts, raingear (we'll be working rain or shine)

Sturdy gloves

Pruning saws (no power tools)

Loppers for cutting brush

Boots

Any questions? Call Trinity at 345-4823, or Erin Kirkland 575-3935. We'll do our best to answer them.

Start>ing Again...

Our home group last night began Chapter 5 of "Start>Becoming a Good Samaritan", and about halfway through the DVD portion, I heard the best line in a long, long time.

It came from Matthew sleeth, an emergency room physician-turned-environmentalist.

"Get off your donkey and do something." As in get off your high horse of telling people what ought to be done and just do it. Or quit driving right on by the person sitting in the ditch and see how you can help. Like perhaps putting down the cell phone and talking to the kid who has no friends.

My donkey is parked. I'm ready. What about you?

Follow Up to WIFY by Erin Kirkland

I had an interesting experience yesterday that relates to Megan's post about the "what's in it for me" concept.

As a sponsor of a local organization's upcoming event, I was in a meeting with the executive director and education director to talk about their strategies for obtaining volunteers. Volunteerism is a funny thing; people like to help for all the right reasons, but many hope to gain something tangible from the experience.

Indeed, part of the discussion yesterday was in respect to the "reward" given to those who donate their time to the event. "What do they get?" was the question.

WIFY?

WIFM or WIFY: Which station are you tuned into? by Megan Holliday

Several years ago I was at a conference where the main speaker said that all people are tuned into the same "radio station" - WIFM or What's In It For Me? He said that in any and every situation we are evaluating our personal gain and if there's not enough gain for the time, money or energy put in we won't participate.

Honestly, this is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. Jesus leads us to tune into WIFY - What's In It For You? As we continue to be transformed into his likeness, we switch frequencies and stop thinking about how we benefit and start looking at how things benefit others around us.

The Huffman Park Project is a perfect example of how Trinity is beginning to switch frequencies. We are joining with the Municipality of Anchorage, Huffman Elementary PTA and the Community Council of this area to fix a park we all share. What's In It For Me? Not a lot. I'm going to work hard and try to fix up a park I don't use much. What's In It For You (in this case our neighborhood)? A lot! The kids at school next door will have a better functioning park for walking to and from school, for extra-curricular activities like cross-country running and skiing. The neighborhood gets a park where they can walk their dogs, have family picnics and ride their bikes.

This project is not about me or us at Trinity...it's about our community. We'll see you on Saturday, May 15th from 8-2 as we fix up our own building a bit and begin work on the biggest and best community project South Anchorage has ever seen!