Volunteer opportunities, in regards to Nutts Pond (Manchester, Nashua: credit, live)

[SFT]

I remember a few months back a member made a post about Nutts Pond in Manchester. At first I found it interesting because despite not being from the Manchester area, but traveling there on more than a few occasions, I did not have the slightest idea that the pond even existed. It all seemed very sad to me, but like the majority of people, the impression it made was quickly lost.

For one reason or another, I did some additional research on Nutts Pond recently and again thought how unfortunate it was that such things happened to this pond and found that this was not the only one. Fortunately, over the last few months I have had time to realize the necessity for volunteering and giving back to the community.

So, I decided that I wanted to help out and was fortunate enough to find the Urban Ponds Restoration Project on the Manchester website. For anyone interested, the link is posted here:

Pond Restoration

They mention that since 2000, 365 volunteers have spent 1,293 hours collecting 1,279 bags of trash. Now that is great and should not be discredited, but you would think in a city of over 100,000 residents, excluding nearby towns with tens of thousands more, there would be more than 365 volunteers in the last 9 years. I don't mean to say that everyone should volunteer because that would be foolish considering some people are not physically able, other have schedule restrictions, and even more just do not care enough about the project, which I cannot find fault in considering that's how I felt for the first twenty-one years of my life.

It would be great if the goal became to beautify and add value to the areas rather than just simply "cleaning up". I do not believe this to be the present goal by choice, but rather because there is a very small population contributing to the efforts.

Now that I have rambled on for far too long, I just wanted to make this post for two reasons. First, a thank you to those who volunteer in their communities whether by enriching the lives of children, elderly, and the disabled, improving our environment, and any other cause that warrants and necessitates volunteers and people that care.

Additionally, I made this post to raise awareness to a specific program and just the overall need for volunteers and giving back to your community. If anyone is aware of any other good programs, I would love to look in to them and please feel free to post information about them.

[yinduffy]

In Nashua, we have the volunteer Mine Falls Park committee and they do wonderful work coordinating clean-up days. It is a big park with trails alongside the river and canals and covers a lot of territory. With out them the park would not be as nice as it is.