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Centerville Park Cleanup
Author: Matt Nelson

Matt Nelson

On Saturday, May 16th, the Rotary Club of Townsend participated in the worldwide Rotary International’s EPIC Day of Service at Centerville Park.

This is a worldwide event, where Rotarians bring friends, family and many volunteers to do community service projects like: cleaning up parks, dilapidated areas, feeding the poor, holding blood drives, etc. The Rotary Club of Townsend had their sights on cleaning up Centerville Park as its project. Members from the Broadwater County Parks and Recs (Recreation) Board, and the Broadwater County Development Corporation (BCDC) Trails Committee also participated. Rotary Member Steve Roy organized the event.

Carol Hatfield is on the County Parks and Rec Board and mentioned that they really appreciate the Rotary taking the lead on this project. She said, “Centerville Park was given to the county from the Bureau of Reclamation specifically for recreation and parks. When the Parks and Recreation board found out that Rotary had chosen Centerville for their project, we knew we had to get with Pat Platenburg to help with the trees. Pat is known all over the state with his involvement in Tree City USA and his knowledge of trees. He’s been a great asset to this community. What we are doing today is cleaning up all of the dead and down trees so we can prepare for constructing a walking trail, trailhead and parking area. The Parks and Recreation Board is following the Parks and Open Space Master Plan for the Centerville Park and will be working with Broadwater County Trails Committee to submit a recreation and stewardship grant for the park. This is the start of a long-term project and may take up to several years to complete all of the tasks.”

Jeff Lagnlinais, of the Townsend Rotary Club, said, “The reason Rotary is here today is because May 16th is a Worldwide EPIC Day of Service. All over the world, all over the state, the Rotary Clubs are getting together to do something. It just coordinated well with the Parks board to come and help them clean up.”

Jeff also supplied the names of the Rotary members who showed up for the cleanup: Doug Sitton - Club President, Elaine Roy - President Elect (she becomes President July 1), Barb Mock - Club Treasurer, Janine Stone - Member (former president, secretary, and board member), Patrick Plantenberg - Member (former president, secretary and board member), Diane Brown - Member (former president & current Fall Fest Planning Committee Co-Chair), Jeff Langlinais - Board member (former president & secretary), Steve Roy – Member, and Connie Myles - Member

After the initial safety briefing by Carol, smaller groups of two and four people dispersed in the park - cutting, carrying, and loading branches into trailers. Some of the dead branches were ten to twelve feet long, and there was a lot there. It was a terrific effort performed by approximately two dozen people.

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PhotoCredit: Matt Nelson
Image 1 Caption: Some of the volunteers that cleaned up Centerville Park Matt Nelson Photo
Image 2 Caption: Current Rotary President Doug Sitton, Pat Plantenberg, and Bob Tootell Matt Nelson Photo
Image 3 Caption: Jeanine Stone and Carol Hatfield Matt Nelson Photo