A-Team in Action...

I hope this won't sound a little too much like a public relations pitch, but I wrote up a quick article for our neighborhood newspaper called, Passages. Our local paper is distributed on a monthly basis to the 5,000 homes that make up our association, and honestly, they do a wonderful job in providing news and information to residents. My only complaint is that, like any monthly publication, often articles that would be relevant for a particular month don't make the deadline for publication. But, I enjoy my copy and appreciate the fact that the people who put it together use some of the pictures I take and the words I write for them. Instead of waiting for the hardcopy version, I thought I'd adapt my story for the web.So as it turns out, this morning, about 20 members of the Great Northwest A-Team got together for some painting, clean-up and fun. Members of all ages took paint brushes in hand and covered over the much detested graffiti that seems to dot the privacy fences and utility boxes throughout the main thoroughfares around the association neighborhoods.As one group of volunteers made quick work of common areas along Timberwilde Drive, others fanned out along Timber Path to seek out offending marks on the privacy fences that line the road. Several A-Team members commented on how with the enjoyable weather and many people helping out, the job was more fun than work. As each new spot needing a little touch up was identified, several members would join in to clean it up.Between painting and using heavy duty graffiti remover, numerous utility boxes, signs and fences were cleaned up by the group in less than two hours. Great Northwest Community Improvement Association Board Director and A-Team member Richard Garcia commented that small events like this one don’t take an entire day from volunteers limited weekends, yet the allow people to get out and help make the community a nicer place to live. And from the many friendly waves and honks from cars and trucks passing by, it was evident that the residents appreciate the work the A-Team is doing to battle the graffiti and efforts to keep the common areas clean.Future A-Team projects may include the cleaning up of greenbelts, helping residents in need with minor repairs of fences and such, and of course, we’ll continue to keep the graffiti at bay.How can you become a member of the A-Team? It is as simple is contacting A-Team coordinator, Mike Yager or stopping in at the Lodge of the Great Northwest office to learn more. You will find that there is no commitment to how much or how little time you participate, and if you can’t do a lot of heavy lifting, we can always use supervisors and cheerleaders!