An uncooperative weather pattern and few workers available for outdoor projects had Camp Tricklin’ Falls Director John Crane a bit worried as he tried to get the YMCA facility ready to open for the summer season, but he’s breathing a little easier after a group of Unitil volunteers showed up to lend a hand.
As part of the company’s “Caring for our Communities” volunteer effort, seven Unitil employees arrived last week and quickly armed themselves with shovels and rakes to help get the work done before this week’s camp opening.
The workers took on several outdoor projects, including raising tents, raking leaves, and spreading loads of new sand to freshen up the beach area at the camp, which features 14 acres of woods and pine trees along the Powwow River.
Employees from the Hampton-based electricity and natural gas provider perform eight hours of community service each year, sometimes on their own and other times in larger groups. This was the first group project since the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily halted larger gatherings of employees for community service work.
“We try to put together group projects for our folks to sign up for so we can come to organizations like this to help with work that they would either not get done or would have to pay to have done. It’s a huge benefit for them and it gives us a chance to give back to our local communities where we live and work,” said Kristen Anderson, Unitil’s senior community relations specialist.
Anderson was among the volunteers who traded in their day jobs on June 14 after the camp work was delayed by a week because of the rainy weather.
Crane, the camp director, said he was grateful for the extra help.
“It’s super crunch time and this was extremely helpful because I’ve been stressing a lot about it. The bodies just haven’t been available, so having people here helping and willing to come has been great. I’m just one person and my guys are doing other stuff, getting the curriculum ready and making sure the camp is logistically OK,” he said as several volunteers descended on the beach with shovels and wheelbarrows to begin digging into the massive pile of sand.
Phil Wood, a Unitil IT project manager, joined the company in May and wasted no time signing up for community service hours.
“I just got hired and I love the opportunity to be able to do this. It’s fun to be part of a new team,” he said.
Wood wasn’t the only new hire to join the effort. Jessica Twomey, an administrative assistant at Unitil, was a temporary worker for several months and was hired at the end of May. “I learned about it two days ago and I wanted to jump in. I’ve volunteered my whole life,” she said.
Jody Lane, a project leader on the natural gas side of the business, described the community service project as a “win-win” that would benefit him, the camp and Unitil.
“I just figured if I was going to volunteer for the first time, this was the thing to do. I’m helping people close to home. It’s outside. It’s what I like to do,” said Lane, who worked as a contractor with Unitil for many years before being hired in January.
As the volunteers tackled their jobs and he looked around at the piles of wet leaves that still needed to be raked up, Crane said even just one day of work would make a big difference.
“If they did 10% of what I need,” he said, “that’s 10% less I need to worry about.”
