By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
As Lenore Schmidt, 94, gazed at her backyard on Saturday afternoon, she could barely believe her eyes.
Her whirligigs and outdoor furniture had been moved from the shed and returned to the yard. The bushes and trees were trimmed, weeds had been pulled, mulch had been spread, and a nice young man was power washing the siding of her house.
Across Bowling Green on Saturday, 65 volunteers armed themselves with tools and prepared for blisters as they helped with exterior work at 12 homes and yards, where the owners said they could use the help. The homes were marked with signs in the front yards saying, “This House Got Rocked.”
“At my age, it’s hard to get my trimming done,” said Schmidt, who has lived in her North Summit Street house for the past 50 years. On Saturday, she occasionally put on her plastic hair bonnet to protect her perm, and ventured outside to check the work being done.
“I think they’re doing well. They’ve been very polite – I couldn’t ask for nicer people,” she said.
The community and campus volunteers were equally as impressed with Schmidt and the Rock the Block program.
“It’s an amazing cause, helping the neighborhoods,” said team leader Andy McDermott, as he power washed “years of gunk” from the siding of Schmidt’s house.
The Rock the Block initiative was organized by the Bowling Green Save Our Neighborhoods Group (BG SONG), a community-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and improvement of Bowling Green neighborhoods.
The project brought the community together to assist local homeowners with yard work, exterior maintenance and minor repairs at no cost. Homeowners assisted on Saturday ranged from families with young children to individuals in their 90s.
BG SONG partnered with a leadership course offered at Bowling Green State University, centered around service learning and servant leadership. The collaboration provided students with a hands-on opportunity to immerse themselves in leadership within their local community.
“This kind of stuck out for me – helping people who can’t do it themselves,” said student Cameron Chisholm.
As a group of students shoveled mulch in Schmidt’s driveway, Chisholm said he had yard work experience helping his grandma. But this was all new to students Audrey Seitz and Rian Oglesby. That didn’t hold them back as they spread the mulch in the front flower bed.
“I just like to serve my community,” Oglesby said.
On the other side of the city, community and campus volunteers were busy cleaning up an overgrown lawn at a home on Meeker Street.
Steve Conlin, joined the project as a member of the Bowling Green Rotary Club, which operates under the motto of “Service Above Self.”
The crew at Don Barr’s house on Meeker Street did window washing, brush trimming, power washing, and raking up “years of leaves,” Conlin said.
The students working in the backyard were not required to spend their Saturday toiling in neighborhoods of Bowling Green.
“I’m doing this because I want to. It’s a fun thing to do to help the community,” said Aubrey Errington, as she raked leaves in Barr’s backyard.
The students were working alongside Mike Kuhlin, who was power washing the garage, and Bob Rex, who was cleaning gutters and raking leaves.
“Winnie volunteered me,” Rex said of his wife. “We’ve got a good group of people working.”
Barr, who uses a cane to get around, said he occasionally peeked out his windows to check on the volunteers.
“They’re doing good,” he said.
“I can’t do it,” Barr said, adding he also can’t afford to pay anyone to do the work for him.
At another house on the east side of the city, a large crew of community, college and Wood Lane volunteers were helping at a home on Frazee Avenue. Jo Sears, who is retired and on disability, purchased the house in December.
“I needed a lot of help cleaning it up,” said Sears, who greeted the volunteers at her house with homemade cookies.
“I was thrilled when I saw they were going to do this,” Sears said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this in three months,” she said of the work accomplished in one day.
At the Frazee Avenue home, LeAnn Frankfather was busy trimming bushes and organizing the Venturing crew, which is a division of Boy Scouts of America at Wood County Developmental Disabilities.
“These guys really like to give,” she said of the crew. “It’s a great opportunity to help in their community.”
Sean Pierce, who has achieved the Eagle ranking with the Venturing group, spent his time pulling weeds, carting wheelbarrows full of mulch, and holding a ladder for a volunteer cleaning out gutters.
“I just wanted to help some poor guys out,” Pierce said.
Rose Drain, head of BG SONG and coordinator of the Rock the Block project, was thrilled at the volunteer efforts of 65 people from the community and campus.
“It was such a good response, with university students volunteering side by side with community members,” Drain said.
Support also came from the Bowling Green Community Foundation which kicked off the project funding with a grant, plus donations from businesses and individuals.
“I’m astonished by all the support,” Drain said.
After the work was done on Saturday, homeowners, volunteers and donors gathered for a celebration at Trinity United Methodist Church, with Pagliai’s donating pizza and State Bank serving root beer floats.
Rock the Block will continue on May 4, when volunteers return to some of the homes to paint surfaces that had been power washed this past weekend. The volunteers will also return that day to plant native plants donated by the Wood County Park District, and canopy trees from the city.
Drain said workers would also help out at five other homes that couldn’t be served on Saturday.
And perhaps the Rock the Block program will continue.
“If we get the courage, we’ll do it again in the fall,” Drain said.
