Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

The Battle Ground Cares Committee, a volunteer committee established by the Battle Ground City Council, conducted its first group project on Saturday and Sunday, October 24th and 25th with a weekend of service to the community.

The group’s service activities focused on three areas - planting trees on West Main Street; Old Town and Central Park beautification; and City-wide litter pick up. In addition to the service activities, a Health Fair, with 25 vendors, was available to the community and a food drive was organized to benefit the North County Community Food Bank.

Over 200 volunteers and 50 sponsors worked to make the event a monumental success, illustrated by the following achievements:

• Volunteers filled a 7-ton dumpster with litter from around the City.
• 36 trees were planted by volunteers on West Main Street. In addition, more than 50 plants and shrubs were installed in planters in Old Town Battle Ground.
• Invasive blackberries were removed from Central Park and the Woodin Creek area.
• Bark dust was applied to Old Town planter areas and in Central Park.
• A half mile of sidewalks in Old Town was power washed.
• The Old Town Scrapbook Mural on Andersen Dairy was cleaned to its original shine.
• Over 800 pounds of food was collected for the North County Community Food Bank.
• 26 people, including 13 for the first time, donated blood. The amount collected will serve 70 patients in need.

Major donors to the service weekend, contributing a combined total of over $10,000 in cash and in-kind donations, include Tapani Underground, Battle Ground Rockery, Lewis River Rotary, The City of Battle Ground, Battle Ground Printing, The Reflector, Grease Monkey, and G2 Landscaping.

Mayor Michael Ciraulo expressed the feelings of many, “This service weekend and what has been accomplished by volunteers and sponsors demonstrates what a community can do when it works together. I am enormously proud of the City of Battle Ground and so thankful for our community of volunteers and supporters. This spirit of cooperation gives Battle Ground its identity and makes for a great place to live, work, shop and play.”

For pictures of the Battle Ground Cares Service Weekend visit our Photo Gallery and for more information about the project, please contact the committee’s staff liaison, Claire Lider at 360-342-5008.