Everything needs maintenance. You are probably all nodding your heads right now in recognition. Non-profits such as River Action is an organization of volunteers who are willing to do conservation on public lands; our parks, our trails, and our prairies. We don’t often calculate the volunteer hours and the value inherent in them, but when neighbors and volunteers show up alongside the contractors, designers, and directors of public lands who have installed a project, we should.
On September 15, the Quad Cities will have volunteers, nonprofits, and community groups not at the periphery of maintenance, but at the center through United Way’s Day of Caring. It is a wonderful program, which for years has brought thousands of volunteers from participating companies such as Arconic and John Deere to projects needing help and extra attention.
Because maintenance is so often underfunded and unequally distributed, many public design projects must rely on an army of volunteers if they are going to thrive after opening day. They are a diverse group; all ages, all backgrounds, but all ready to pitch in.
This year, River Action will host a Day of Caring clean-up 8 a.m. to noon, on Sylvan Island, Moline, painting, helping maintain the trails, and picking up trash. An additional maintenance project will take place that day at Sunderbruch Park, Davenport where painting, pulling invasive weeds and trail work will take place.
It is incredibly frustrating that we do not have the public funds to invest in public spaces, and that we have ceded this responsibility to the private sphere, but this isn’t just a public space problem.
You could say the same thing about our care for each other and for the most vulnerable among us. The way we take care of each other is really inseparable from the way we take care of our parks, greenways, and places where we live. Every relationship and everything needs maintenance, help, and extra attention.