CRESTVIEW — Visitors to the McMahon Environmental Center have a shady new meandering path to follow through the multi-acre arboretum thanks to a June 13 morning blitz build.
See photos from the McMahon Center path construction>>
Nearly three dozen Kiwanians, Boy Scouts and Young Marines descended on the Butler Circle park at 8 a.m., and within four hours, the wood lined, mulch filled pathway was complete.
“They really worked hard,” Boy Scouts Gulf Council unit commissioner Rae Schwartz said. “That was supposed to be a full day project but it was done by noon.”
“I was impressed,” Emerald Coast Young Marines unit commander Lynn Dominque said. “We laid out all of the walking path, drove stakes into the ground, put the wood sides up and spread the mulch in four hours. I think that was impressive for 8-to-12.”
A FIRST FOR ALL
The Crestview Kiwanis Club, taking its American Indian-inspired name — which, club president Ashley Rogers said, means “we build” — to heart, has adopted the city-owned environmental center as a major community project.
“This the largest project that we have undertaken,” Rogers said. “We have been selective. We try to select a project of large impact for the community.”
Rogers said though the club has been active in educational projects and the annual No Child Without Health Care fair, tackling the arboretum’s renovation is its first large-scale construction project.
In fact, it’s a first for the other involved organizations as well.
Boy Scouts Troop 30 treasurer Kelley Koon said though individual scouts frequently tackle community improvements as individual Eagle projects, such as work at Crestview’s community garden, “This is the first big project they’ve really been involved with.”
WORK FROM THE HEART
Schwartz, who was among adult volunteers at the McMahon Center Saturday morning, couldn’t be happier than to see improvements being made. Helping mark native tree species was her son, Mike’s, Eagle project in the 1990s.
“We’ve (Boy Scouts) had a long association with the McMahon Center, and we’re just excited to see what Kiwanis is doing with it,” she said.
“We do a lot of events but this is our first project,” Dominque said, listing the Young Marines ceremonial participation in programs such as the city’s Military Appreciation Recognition Celebration and the Exchange Club’s Stand Up and Say the Pledge ceremony.
“We always participate in the community,” Dominque said. “Whatever we can do to help out the community, we’ll come out to support it in any way we can.”
Koon said it’s impossible to assign a value to work that comes from the heart.
“For our boys, we try not to put a dollar value on these projects,” she said. “It’s more of a community value and making it about giving back to the community they live in.”
THE PATH, BY THE NUMBERS
1/8 = length of the path in miles
32 = volunteers
8 = Troop 30 Boy Scout volunteers
2 = Troop 30 adult volunteers
7 = Young Marines volunteers
3 = Young Marines adult volunteers
12 = Kiwanians and community volunteers
128 =Total man-hours to construct the path
WANT TO GO?
The McMahon Environmental Center is adjacent to the fire tower opposite Live Oak Park Cemetery at the corner of North Avenue, Butler Circle and Mapoles Street. Open daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. To arrange a visit to the onsite natural history and regional industry museum, call Crestview Parks and Recreation, 682-4715.
For information about the Crestview Kiwanis Club and its future renovation plans for the McMahon Environmental Center, visit the club’s Facebook page, Crestview Kiwanis/Environmental Center Project, or email crestviewkiwanis@outlook.com.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Kiwanis, Boy Scouts and Young Marines team up for first major project (PHOTOS)