It Takes a Village (of Volunteers)
If you’ve visited Lake Tomahawk recently you’ve probably noticed the new ‘Story Stations’ located along the pathway encircling the lake. On June 10th the ‘Greenways Read Out Loud Walking (GROW) Trail’ was dedicated at a joyous celebration with over 100 in attendance. GROW showcases what will become a rotating ‘library’ of locally authored books geared primarily at K-5th grade children.
The Trail begins with an orientation station at the flagpole in the Veterans Park near the swimming pool, encircles the lake and ends at the playground. The inaugural book featured is Hiding in Plain Sight by Asheville author Cindy Groce and features activity and imagination stations along with the progression of the story itself. The twenty-two stations were designed, built, installed and are maintained completely with volunteer labor and funded 100% by generous contributions from local organizations, individuals and families. Originally envisioned and proposed by Melisa Pressley, Branch Manager of the Black Mountain-Tyson Library, it is a partnership of the Black Mountain Greenways and Trails Committee and the Friends of the Library, with support from Black Mountain Town Council, Recreation and Parks, Public Works, Chamber of Commerce, Beautification Committee and many others.
The overwhelmingly enthusiastic and dedicated volunteer efforts began with Theresa and Jim Fuller, owners of the Arbor House Bed & Breakfast at the lake offering their fully outfitted on-site workshop/garage as a most convenient ‘base’ for designing and building the stations, enabling their installation around the lake to be an easy and efficient effort. In addition, Theresa and Jim became financial supporters, hands-on workers and even hosted a volunteer-appreciation party at the Inn.
Thanks to an on-line signup system on the Friends website there was soon a happy team of volunteers willing to pitch in on all tasks, both simple and complex. Composed of both old friends and neighbors and new acquaintances, all agree that the chance to work together and forge new friendships in service of the project was a primary benefit of the effort.
To view volunteer Gary Leive’s photo album of the GROW Trail Project click here.
An alphabetical listing of all the generous volunteers is listed below; our deepest thanks and appreciation to all for the chance to serve together. Please note that additional opportunities for donations and Station ‘sponsorship’ may be made via the Friends of the Library website – click here to donate online. We hope that you and your family and friends have many years of fun and adventure enjoying this wonderful addition to our very special community.
