Some Volunteer Work in the Volunteer State!

Bob and I took a pause in our winter traveling to lend a hand at David Crockett Birthplace State Park in Tennessee.  The map down below on the next page shows approximately where we were.  We worked for 2 weeks with 30 other volunteers who just happen to be travelers, too.  This was a project organized by A Year To Volunteer, as they cross the country looking for places to do good deeds.  This was our first time participating, but some of the other couples there were repeaters.  We all had trailers or RV's of some sort, and were kindly provided with free camping while we worked.  It's a cute little park showing the history of early settlers in the area, including the Crockett family.

Before we did a little new landscaping at the entrance, there was only a stone sign in place. After some TLC it's sporting bushes and flowers.

A few highlights of our group's work over 2 weeks.  I included a map below to show you the approximate location of the park.  We were in the eastern tip of Tennessee, with North Carolina and Virginia nearby.  Also near Great Smoky National Park.  The landscape around the area is all hilly, with very narrow, crooked roads.  I really came to appreciate the straight flat roads at home!

 My lesson about this poison ivy was too late to prevent me from developing a rash, which eventually led me to seek out a doctor and some steroids to get it under control.  I've had poison ivy before with the same treatment required, I guess I'm more sensitive to it than a lot of people because no one else got it!

We enjoyed this first experience of shared volunteer work, it's very satisfying to see the results of what a group of workers can do in just a few days.  All of the work that we did was requested by the park staff, and were things that they never had the staff and money to tackle.  They did provide the tools and lumber, their budget had room for the lumber even at today's inflated price.  The rangers were amazed at what was accomplished, and so appreciative!  They even cooked us breakfast on our final day!  Biscuits and gravy, of course!  They did provide the direction we needed to dig into the work, but after we got started we were pretty self-directed.

Phil and Shar Roos are the leaders and founders of A Year To Volunteer and you can read the story of how it started on their website.  They are always busy lining up new projects for future volunteers.  Right now, as I write this, they are in Montana working on repairs to a ghost town!  They post short videos on their Facebook page and YouTube channel.  They are great to work with, and very organized so the process of pulling together a group of strangers to work productively together looks very easy!  But not without a lot of behind the scenes work for weeks and months ahead.  I am grateful for their initiative to create the Year To Volunteer organization and that I had the good fortune to catch onto it through the great world wide web!  Browsing YouTube videos really paid off this time!