Towards the end of the month, there will be a need for some volunteers.
Stuart Police Sergeant and West Central Valley Schools Resource Officer Katie Guisinger says that she’s always looking for ways to do programs that will help the children and community. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that in her search of grants and programs, she found the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’s Trees for Kids grant.
“And I saw that grant, and it was kind of a mix of all my worlds, of working at the school, my job, I do focus a lot on community policing with the police department, and then also I saw a need for it. We’ve lost a tremendous amount of trees to ash disease in town. And I saw that grant and I was like, ‘Well, you know, this can benefit the city. This can be a project I can do with some of our school age kids.’ And I just kind of thought it was a good fit for all those things.”
After being awarded the grant, Guisinger had to choose what trees to choose from, and had to follow some guidelines that the DNR set.
“The Trees for Kids had very specific outlines for this program. So I think with the ash borer in mind, they said no more than 10% could be the same species. So with that, we’ve got nine different kinds of trees going in. We’ve got anything from pine, maple, oak, there’s some blossoms.”
Sergeant Guisinger explains that since the grant is called Trees for Kids, she’s using it as a teaching opportunity for children, and a way to instill a love of the community in them. She adds that she’s also looking for some volunteer help from the community so that it can be a fun experience for the kids as well.
“Just kind of some extra hands on site with shovels and buckets. I kind of am under the belief of ‘many hands make lighter work.’ So just to make it more enjoyable. You don’t want to say ‘Alright, have fun, go dig 27 holes’ to a couple students. That’s not going to make them want to do projects like this in the future. So we want it to be enjoyable and have enough hands where everyone can do a little bit and have a good time.”
For those that would like to volunteer, any wheelbarrows , shovels and gloves you might be able to bring would be appreciated. If there are any questions please contact Sergeant Guisinger at the email below.