HandsOn Northeast Georgia Blog

HandsOn With Dad turned out to be a great event. There were 40 volunteers from numerous families taking part to spend some time with their Dad's while cleaning up Sandy Creek Park. The temperature was hot, in the nineties, and very few clouds. It was going to be a day requiring sunshade, hats, and lots of water!! Three projects were created for this effort. One was a clean up of the lake area. The volunteers got in canoes and paddled around the lake, picking up trash found on the shoreline and in the water. Many bags of trash were collected, making the area much more pristine and clean. Another project was working on Swimming Deer Creek Trail. The volunteers were transported by pontoon boat to the midpoint of the trail and walked a mile and a half to the trail starting point. They picked up trash along the trail and cut branches and invasives from protruding into the trail. They also enjoyed the fact that it was a shaded area abd therefore much cooler than the other projects!! The last project was in one of the dog park areas. Volunteers cleared invasives and other overgrowth from along the fence line and away from a picnic area located inside this dog park. A great deal of this growth was cleared away, except for those areas that had poison ivy!!! Those areas were reported to the staff for later removal by them. Overall, a lot of work was accomplished during the project time. At the end of the work day, the volunteers assembled in the "air conditioned" visitor center for lunch. It consisted of an excellent array of four kinds of sandwiches, salad, feta cheese, pita chips, various kinds of crackers, and dip which were provided by Mama's Boy and Marti's At Midday. All the volunteers dug in to the lunch with gusto and shared stories about their day. Everyone present said they really enjoyed working at the park. It was a most delicious and cool end to a great day of service for Dads and their families at Sandy Creek Park!!