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Day 22: Best day of work ever!
Eighteen months ago I was invited to attend a presentation at the Boner Center. I went as a part of SOLAR, KIB's young Professional Network. We met with Tracy Heaton and Tony Mason as they explained to us what the Legacy Project was and how it was going to impact our city. In that meeting I started to think, what if Crowe Horwath (where I work) did a day of service on the near eastside. Well, after lots of planning and preparation, I was out on the near eastside with 120 of my peers for an exhilarating and exhausting day. This weekend I will recount the experience and talk about the tree I planted. Today I just want to share one story before I get some much needed sleep.
As I was walking down the street, a very sweet lady named Shirley came out of her house with one of her cats. She wanted to know what type of tree we were planting in front of her house. She was so excited. Shirley has lived in her house on the near eastside for over 50 years. 50 years ago, her neighborhood was vibrant filled with working families who owned their homes. there was a post office a block away and everyone know everyone. As she was describing the neighborhood all I could picture was the Arnold family from Wonder Years. Today the block is mostly renters. Shirley said it has been up and down, but things are getting the better Some of the vacant homes have been torn down. She said the empty lots are a big improvement on the vacant homes that were cover for "dopers".
What made her so excited is that someone was coming to her street to help out. The sidewalks are crumbling, the curbs no longer exist in places, and there was a lot of liter. Shirley felt like her street had been forgotten, but now someone was taking an interest and helping it. The trees are beautifying the streets. The trees are going to shade the homes and reduce their air conditioning bills These trees can help bring down the crime . All these things excited Shirley so much that she told KIB they didn't need to water the two trees in front of her house, she was going to take care of them.
This one experience captures everything I feel about KIB and why I wanted to do this silly project of 30 trees in 30 days. It is something that is helping the community.
