CommUNITY Cleanup Greenville

This backblast was written in Facebook for non-F3ers as well as our Pax.

In F3 and FiA, the Q (leader) of the workout types up a back blast. The back blast normally records everyones F3 nickname, what happened, and a few “nuggets” of truth. Here is the backblast for CommUNITY Cleanup Greenville, 10/22/16.

Today started early, real early, just like any good day in a humans life. Dedicated & committed humans normally do more by 9:00am then some people do all day. The Tar River was peaceful this morning. The storm from the night before cooled off the air, so it was a cool, clear morning with just the stars and moon to keep me company at that moment. The Greenville PD Mobile Command Center arrived early and provide a light for the set up, along with Kylene and some of the early team. It’s appropriate when the police are here early to provide a light to lead the way.

Our team arrived between 6:30-7:00 to get prepared. Neighborhood Captains prepared the supplies and the Zello Walkie Talkie app to allow 12 of us to communicate like a pack of Cub Scouts playing in the woods with walkie talkies. As the day wore on, that app proved not only effective to move 25 donated rakes around, but to call in the National Guard (literally) to help bring organization and inspiration to the final efforts. The registration team was organized. They were led by Kylene Dibble who was in the Guinness Book of World Records for a prior volunteer effort. (You learn cool things working with cool people) One of the neatest ideas about registration came from a super organized friend who runs races. Sharon explained that having walk ups gather together allows, them to work as a group. We then thought, that’s a way to take strangers and build commUNITY through them. Seeing that happen organically, as people walked up, was a sight to see. It totally met the core mission of the day.

The Mayor and Carlton are connected and soon we had music playing, EMS posted, Pepsi handing out drinks, and the Sanitation Truck, decorated by kids parked and ready. The Mayor has recently become famous for his FaceBook Live post, so of course when it came time to address the crowd, give the safety briefing, and pray us out, it was all captured. Then the beauty happened. The Neighborhood Captains rolled out, the volunteers rolled out, and more volunteers kept rolling in. We had 600 at lunch and 50 more come in during lunch to provided much needed reinforcements. On top of those 650, we had stories of so many who walked up to join or residents who came out and helped. The true number of people impacted today far exceeded the registered number.

The American Legion from Fuquay-Varina had a mobile kitchen open and ready for service at 11:15 and they had food for 600. We cleared them out. CommUNITY tends to happen when people break bread together. Several in the group were impressed at how the National Guard came up to lunch as a unit – they are the link between the military and civilians. It showed today.

So many things happened today, some were missed by this post, but they are memories that will stick with you the rest of your life. Feel free to post more positive stories from the day. Check out 252Buzz. He took some amazing photos today, including the one of the Chief and me and the one with me, the Mayor, Jermaine Mcnair, Yordanys Bastardo.

Moleskin: There were many stories from the day. Here are a few. We realized that with such short notice and the fact that many college students don’t store rakes in their apartments, we desperately needed some rakes. Tater, a Neighborhood Captain, talked to a man who wanted to buy water for the volunteers. He mentioned that we needed rakes. So the volunteer went to Lowes and was handed 25 donated rakes. As one group called out over Zello for rakes, the rake fairy delivered them. Those rakes made it down the south side of the river, and crossed the Tar, like Joshua and the Israelites, to do battle on the north side. The most beautiful thing about working with dedicated, committed individuals is that I only had to listen over the Zello app as Mr. Belding needed rakes and Tater was already in route his way.

The south of the river was rocking. The crew from the Third Street Center and Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints got some major cleaning done in some of the toughest areas. ECU athletes were cleaning and cheering the race that was going on. CommUNITY was happening south of the river.

The north of the river Neighborhood Captains did some inspired work. Neighbors came out to join the efforts and become part of the CommUNITY building. Sincere thanks was shared for taking care of their neighborhoods. Good work was done.

At the end of the day, the Mayor and Carlton were riding around and noticed that Moore and Pitt St still needed some love. Troops were rallied and before you knew it volunteers and the National Guard were taking care of business. There was a young man, about 10 who joined them on the side. One of the Neighborhood Captains gave him an orange vest to make him “official” and the National Guard smiled and had him “Fall in young man”. The inspired look on that 10 year olds face will be remembered by all who saw it.

The mayor mentioned that there was probably trash from Floyd that was collected today. See, maybe that is something that we needed. Maybe there was a spark from Floyd that needed to be kindled again. Maybe some of the CommUNITY that was started in Floyd needed to happen in a city that is stronger now.

We learned many lessons in Floyd and we are stronger now because of those lessons. At the end of the day, after a final clean up of the grass parking lot on Tropicana (Yes, I have a picture of the Mayor cleaning up as proof:) I got to ride around the neighborhoods. There are some before and after shots in the photos. Honestly, I was blown away. Riding through Meadowbrook and seeing those bright orange bags and loads of limbs was a sight to see. Quietly, in my truck I sat and wept. They were the tears of John 11:35, tears of love for my brothers and sisters and for this City. It took so much out of a small group of volunteers to organize today (The A-Team photo), and the CommUNITY and the relationships that were formed today by every participant are ones that will last for a long, long, long time. A wise man once said, “Let all that you do be done in love” – Today we saw that.