You've probably heard of The Big Sweep. It's a nation wide fundraising opportunity for different charities. What's nice about the Sweep though is that volunteers clean neighborhood roads, parks, etc while raising money for local charities; our fundraising benefitted the local food bank. I thought this was perfect for our Pack since the boys could be outside and run around while still helping others. Win win!
We were supposed to do it last Saturday, 4/16, but thunder, lightning and a torrential downpour forced us to reschedule for this Saturday. The weather barely hung on for us, but it did!
Our Pack was asked the clean the grounds of our city park. It actually wasn't very dirty at all but the boys were quite happy to run around looking for trash. Because there was a creek nearby, I stayed with Shane and we found a lot of trash near the creek and the neighboring woods. We even found a little baseball that was in good shape so I let him keep it.
It took less than an hour, and it's a great first step in teaching the boys that serving the community is a good thing. It doesn't have to be a huge, amazing task. Something as simple as picking up trash for 45 minutes makes a difference.
Afterwards our Cubmaster gave the boys a lesson on the principles of Leave No Trace. You typically think of LNT when hiking or camping, but it's just as important for little things like a picnic in the park as evidenced by the trash we picked up.
This was so easy to coordinate and such a wonderful way to be a positive presence in the community that we plan for our Pack to participate every year.
1 comment:
What a great way to give back!
Post a Comment