Coming Together

Me with former Neighborhood Chair Kristi Jensen

Over the weekend my family and I helped clean up some of the flood damage in Lion's Park.  The huge storm Provo experienced several weeks ago left the west-side stair case covered in rocks, mud, and dirt.

It was tough work for sure!  When we arrived at 9am, there were just a handful of volunteers and the task looked daunting.  We were met at the bottom of the hill by a volunteer coordinator from Parks and Recreation.  She directed us to some 5 gallon buckets that people were already starting to fill half full with rocks and dirt that had eroded from the hillside to the bottom of the hill and steps. We then had to carry those buckets up the steps and deposit the dirt and rocks into the different trenches that the water had carved out of the hill.

With just a handful of early arrivals we started carrying the buckets up the hill.  It was heavy and hard work.  My kids together with some other children, would take the buckets that had been carried up the steps, dump them in the trenches then run them back down the hill to be refilled and carried back up the hill.  We did that for about 20 - 30 minutes, until the cavalry arrived.  More and more volunteers started trickling in from the neighborhood and then a large group of BYU students arrived and the machine really got rolling!

With the BYU crew now helping we could form a sort of fire bucket brigade.  The buckets were still heavy but many hands made for quick work.  By the time we left the huge dirt pile at the bottom of the hill was removed and the crews started working up the hill shoveling off the dirt that had piled up further up the steps.

It was great to see so many people from the community come together and help.  Lion's park is a beautiful place. My children have played soccer games there and we've had a number of church and other activities in the pavilion.  It felt wonderful to be able to help with a project so close to home.

Thank you to all the neighbors who helped and thank you to all those BYU student's with the strong backs and shoulders!

Below are few more photos of the the crew in action.

Brent Hall filling buckets

Frandsen kids running buckets back down the hill.

Bucket brigade starting to take shape

The full machine in motion!