Lynn McCarthy: Thank you Wayzata Volunteers

Mr. Mayor and Council Members –

The established volunteer program in our city is relatively new…but the concept of volunteering is age old in this town. So many folks over the years gave… and many folks continue to give… again and again… to the various boards, committees and commissions. For one reason…they care about their city.

But my report tonight covers only the experiences of the City of Wayzata Volunteer Committee volunteers..a unit created under the leadership of Mayor Willcox in 2009.

One would think that after five years, the fervor of the Wayzata garden volunteers would cool down a bit.

But you know, it is just not happening. Even though the economic crisis that spawned the volunteer program has passed …the volunteers want to keep on working. We even had to turn down sponsors for the Adopt a Garden program this year, because we had too many takers. And the Dig-It Day volunteers (young and old) continue to mark the third Saturday in May as a time to get up early, get out the gloves and get to work.

In October the garden folks, under the leadership of Pat Broyles, geared up again with the Parks Department to clean out the flower beds and get them ready for winter. This year we had so many volunteers involved that we were finished with our work and ready to head home by 10:30. A big job accomplished by many hands in less than 2 hours.

The Post Office Pocket Park is going to beautiful next Spring. Remember to watch for it!. Our garden volunteers joined the Parks and Trails volunteers …headed by Merrily Borg Babcock… to spend a cold October morning digging holes, by hand, by auger, by any means available to put 1,000 bulbs into the ground. This job made planting flowers and cleaning up look like a piece of cake.

Again this year the volunteers for the Big Woods Initiative included Keller Williams folks, the Wayzata High School football team and local Scout troops. City volunteers worked with The Retreat, The Trust for Public Land, and the Minnesota Land Trust to plan and execute a 10th year anniversary event.

Next year we will be working on a new project. Our volunteers will be front and center with the Parks Department in executing a new city wide initiative to identify and help eliminate the Emerald Ash Bore before it takes a hold on our community.

I am very pleased to announce that we now have two volunteers doing clerical operations assistance at Public Works and we continue to provide collateral delivery service to rental properties for City Hall.

Some volunteers are supporting the work of the Historical Society by interviewing long time citizens of Wayzata and preserving their stories for the Historical Society Archives.

And then there is the work that the volunteers do for the Boardwalk residence and the work that the Boardwalk residence volunteers do for the community.

As part of the monthly speakers program on-site at the Boardwalk this year, volunteers recruited Major General Robert Shadley, historian Mary Berg, author Mary Lou Carpenter, the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra and various local music groups and health organizations. Volunteers still keep the Book Club up and running.

Boardwalk residents have created their own internal volunteer organization and they take responsibility for mailings for the Wayzata Chamber of Commerce and other community organizations.

Let’s suffice it to say that our City volunteers do a lot. They write grant applications, attend leadership training, participate in monthly committee meetings, and have memberships on community and area senior boards.

In a city of 3600 hundred souls, over 269 volunteers contributed more than 8600 hundred hours in 2014…saving the city one hundred and seventy eight thousand dollars in in-kind services.

The 2008 economic downturn was a bump in the road that gave birth to a very viable and vital group of givers who are not slowing down. We are looking forward to another year of giving more and giving back.

My thanks to all the volunteers who operate in our City and my thanks to Bridget Anderson who has been the Council liaison to our committee. And I thank YOU for your time.

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