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The Major League Baseball Players Trust – Volunteers of America Action Team National Youth Volunteer Program

Scarborough, Maine Action Team: Rakin' and Rollin'

Get on the move with a great leaf cleanup in your community. The Scarborough Action Team shows you how!

For their first-ever volunteer project last fall, the Scarborough Action Team hit the ground running', um raking' with a leaf-cleanup day for elderly residents in their community of Scarborough, Maine. The Action Team started with 20 lawns on their to-do list and raked them all in one day.

It took more than a few volunteers showing up with rakes to ensure the day produced more than good intentios. Action Team Captain Jeremy Carter, a senior at Scarborough High School this year, was a project leader. His recommendation: get started now. September is not too soon to begin planning. A well-organized cleanup helps volunteers do good work and have a good time while doing good for others.

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Leaves Today, Gone Tomorrow

Imagine the worry for elderly residents who can't rake their own yards and can't afford to pay for lawn service. Then imagine their relief when you and fellow volunteers tackle the raking for them. Picture it. Now make it happen. Follow these 10 steps from the Scarborough Action Team.

• Pick a Date to Rake: Choose a date far enough into the fall that most leaves are off the trees but before snowstorms are likely. Just in case, plan for a rain or snow date. Scarborough's cleanup day was Saturday, November 17, with a rain date on the 18th.

• Find Out Who Needs Help: Contact agencies and groups in your area that support the elderly and disabled for ways to reach homeowners who need assistance. The Scarborough Action Team developed an application sheet distributed through local medical offices, places of worship, and senior groups. Respondents provided name, address, phone, estimated size of the property to rake, and information such as disabilities and if they were widowed. (Personal details were used to prioritize which lawns were raked first.) Applications were mailed to the school. The Scarborough Action Team received 20 responses from elderly residents, many of whom were widows.

• Round Up Volunteers: Start recruiting volunteers to rake. Scarborough Action Team Captains made presentations to Key Club members in their school. If your school has a community service club or graduation requirement make the case for accumulating service hours in the fall, to avoid scrambling to reach target hours in the spring. Scarborough captains recruited 63 teen volunteers for the leaf cleanup day. Jeremy Carter finds teens are more willing to volunteer when they make a connection to the people they help. He made the leaf cleanup presentations more personal by asking teens to imagine those in need as their own grandmothers. Inviting experts to give students facts about people's needs can also make an impact, he says.

• Size Up the Lawns: Check out the properties in advance, to get a better idea of the size and terrain and to estimate the number of rakers needed. Scarborough captains planned for 4 volunteers for smaller lawns and up to 10 rakers for big ones. Scarborough Town Hall officials gave them access and training for using a mapping software program that provides a picture of each property, including square footage. If your community is not as technologically sophisticated, you can visit each location. Be sure to confirm each address and check driving time from place to place

• Plan for Transportation: Will you need cars to get rakers around? Cover transportation with the help of teen volunteers who drive, or ask parents and teachers to chauffer.

• Arrange for Leaf Pickup: Don't get stuck holding the leaf bag - especially hundreds of them! Contact the town agency that handles leaf disposal, explain your project plans, and ask for their help. The Scarborough Action Team coordinated with the local Department of Public Works to pick up the filled leaf bags from each property. The total haul was more than 400 leaf bags for the day.

• Solicit Supply Donations: You need leaf bags and rakes and enough of both to keep volunteers raking efficiently. Scarborough Action Team Captains solicited donations of leaf bags from local businesses. To ease the way, they were prepared with an introduction on school letterhead explaining the project. (Take a lesson from Scarborough and aim for donations in the hundreds. They received about 100 donated bags, but with a total of over 400 bags filled, they could have used more.) Take a count of volunteers who can bring a rake, and borrow extra rakes from parents and teachers. (If borrowing rakes, be sure to label them so they're returned to the proper owners.

• Assign Who Rakes Where: Place each volunteer on a team and match each team to a property, starting with the lawns of residents with the greatest need for help. Each Scarborough volunteer raked an average of three lawns on leaf cleanup day

• Meet as a Group and Start Early: Have a central meeting place for all volunteers, such as your school. You need a head count on volunteers and equipment, plus a chance to hand out lawn assignments and field questions. With everyone together, remind the group of the important purpose of the day. Start early to make the most of daylight on shorter autumn days. Scarborough students began at 8:00 A.M. and finished the 20th lawn at 4:00 P.M. - a long but productive day

• Designate a "GO-FOR" with a Cell: You need a raker on standby who can deliver extra leaf bags or assist with unexpected problems. As the lead project organizer, Action Team Captain Jeremy Carter got the role by default - but recommends planning for it. Teacher-advisor Lincoln MacIsaac also checked in with rakers at each lawn site and filled a critical job not to be forgotten on a frigid November day - delivering hot chocolate to keep energy and spirits high!

      
Leaves no more! Scarborough Action Team volunteers rest on their laurels - full bags of leaves! - during a fall day of raking lawns for local senior citizens.