At Brick Wagner Park in Centralia, the view toPlummer Lake and a pair paddling in a canoe was opened up by the work crews of Mountain View Baptist Church on Sunday as they cleared brush from the hillside as part of the One Day event sponsored by the Lewis County Ministerial Network. The faith-filled service workers also replaced the wood on three park benches and a picnic table.
A pile of brush, debris and a dozen large garbage bags lie piled up in front of the sign to Brick Wagner Park in Centralia ready to be hauled away by the city of Centralia. Sunday afternoon the members of Mountain View Baptist Church took on the project of cleaning the park, among many other projects, as part of the One Day public service event, sponsored by the Lewis County Ministerial Network.
Wratchet, a lab-pit bull mix, hits the water as Christine Minsch of Centralia tosses a stick out into Plummer Lake Sunday afternoon.
One of the great advantages to being a reporter is that it allows you to be nosy and ask questions without creating too much suspicion.
“What are you doing? Who are you? Where are you from? What’s this? How does it work? Is it fun?” are all questions that I ask on a regular basis.
Sunday evening I had the privilege of covering “One Day,” the Christian community cleanup event sponsored by the Lewis County Ministerial Network. In my interview with Keith Hopkins, pastor of the Grace Foursquare Church and president of the LCMN, at the communal worship service held at Tiger Stadium in Centralia I asked all of those questions and more.
He said if that I was “gregarious enough,” I should go up into the stands and ask the people what they had done and how they felt about it.
Gregarious enough? Shoot fire, I’m obnoxiously gregarious!
I have gotten so used to asking people questions on the job, that I have to work hard to keep myself from grilling people as to their intentions and activities and their feelings about said intentions and activities as I stand in the grocery store line with them.
I was eager to get up into the stands and ask the One Day T-shirt wearing crowd what they had done that day, but I didn’t have to ask people how they felt about the work they had accomplished.
How they felt was as plain as the glow in their cheeks, the sparkle in their eyes, the dirt on their T-shirts and the scratches on their bramble and briar-braving shins. They had spent their day loving the people and the land of their community through the service of hard work and prayer. And it showed. Clear as day.
One of my favorite glowing faces was that of pastor Bill Knepper, Mountain View Baptist Church. His was a grin so wide and full of pride for the work his flock of faithful had accomplished that day, it was infectious. I had a mirroring grin on my own face even before the words came out of his mouth to share what they had done.
“We cleaned up Brick Wagner Park,” he said. “You probably don’t even know where that is.”
“Oh, yes, I would,” I answered, “I stop by there all the time to check on the fishing at Plummer Lake.”
“Well, you wouldn’t recognize it now,” Knepper said.
Now that was something I had to see for myself.
As I drove into the tiny parking area for the Centralia park, the first thing I noticed were a dozen extra-large garbage bags filled to bursting and surrounding a pile of brush so high it nearly covered the Brick Wagner Park sign.
The next thing I noticed was that I could see the sun setting over the water. The head-high brush that had previously obscured the view of the water and sunset was gone.
As I made my way down the steep bank to the lake shore, I could see where they had opened up the shoreline. They had cleared out the area so well, that where before only a few anglers could fit in the tight spaces, now a dozen or more could freely swing their lines into the waters.
I was soon joined by a local mother and daughter pair of walkers and their dogs.
Christine Minsch, 19, Centralia, and her dog Wratchet, an energetic 1½-year-old lab-pitbull mix, made their way to the water. I watched as Christine picked up a stick and tossed it into the water for young Wratchet to follow in with a splash.
Here’s where the obnoxiously gregarious, dog-loving reporter showed up again.
“Are you guys from around here? Do you come here often?” I asked. “Do you notice anything different?”
Yes, they live just down the road. Yes, they come here all the time. Yes, they love seeing all the work that had been done to clean up the park.
As Christine’s mother sat on the bright, new boards covering one of three park benches atop the hill at the park, enjoying the sunset, a pair of paddlers in red canoe moved through the scene, adding to the restful, urban outdoor ambiance.
“Even though the freeway is just across the lake,” she said, “it’s still a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the view.”
Christine said this park is very special to her. It was on that park bench that she and her boyfriend, now serving on a Navy ship overseas, had their first date two years ago.
“We sat right there,” Christine said, pointing to the recently restored bench.
Christine said she had seen all the activity that had gone on at the park during the day and was curious to see what had been accomplished. Her face glowed with enthusiasm as she talked, just like the faces of the One Day workers and pastors.
Labor Day Weekend Challenge
The work of One Day doesn’t have to end here. I’d like to a challenge everyone who plans to go outside and enjoy the outdoors over the weekend to fill just one bag with garbage gleaned from the roadways, campgrounds, riverbanks or lakeshores that you visit.
Just one bag per person on just one of the three days.
I’ve seen what one small group of Baptists can accomplish in a neglected Centralia park in One Day. Let’s see what thousands of outdoor-loving enthusiasts can do in just one day.
Take part in the challenge, enjoy being outside and helping your community to thrive and survive — beautifully.
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Kimberly Mason is a freelance writer who enjoys watching and photographing the wildlife in her own backyard in Cinebar. Visit her wildlife and outdoor encounters photography blog, The (Almost) Daily Bird, at http://blogs.chronline.com/dailybird. Contact her via email at kz@tds.net or call 269-5017 to share unusual wildlife observations, or to discuss upcoming events and topics you would like to see covered in The Chronicle Outdoors section.
