HANDS ON ANN ARBOR PROGRAM

Two years ago Tom ran for Mayor of Ann Arbor and had the opportunity to talk briefly with Ann Arbor Schools Superintendent, Todd Roberts. Tom said he would return after he won the election.  Well as fate would have it, Tom did not win that election but from his discussion with Mr. Roberts an idea was born – Hands on Ann Arbor.

The Hands on Ann Arbor Program would involve all Ann Arbor residents with an emphasis on elementary, middle and high school age students. Currently, Greenhills and Gabriel Richard have a community service program performing a predetermined number of community service hours. 

Ann Arbor Public Schools with close to 17,000 students currently does not have such a program. Tom’s Hands on Ann Arbor idea would be geared towards encouraging the public school kids to become involved in their community and get interested in a public service of some sort.  When our children volunteer they will become more connected with our city, and also receive a sense of accomplishment and pride through their community work. To top it all off, they can learn new skills, meet new people and establish a disciplined work ethic.

In May of 1990 Tom and his wife, along with several hundred other Eberwhite parents and students, volunteered a weekend at Eberwhite Elementary School to construct 2 playgrounds. To this day, he is proud when he goes for a walk and sees the sign that acknowledges all the volunteers who participated. This was a cause that he holds dear to his heart. When the job was completed Tom had a sense of satisfaction, knowing that his energy was being used to support something real.

Hands on Ann Arbor would take a similar approach identifying specific needs, whether they are one time or recurring, and seek volunteers to meet these tasks.  There would be a diverse selection ranging from maintaining, beautifying and cleaning up of our city parks, to producing a newspaper aimed at sustaining our resources ( Link to Sustainability), to becoming involved on city planning and policy panels.  If we can get people involved in their community on a regular basis Ann Arbor can be an amazing community.  Hands on Ann Arbor is a huge undertaking but with no financial risk to the city. Tom will establish the Hands on Ann Arbor Commission where he will personally sit on the commission along with other committee members. There will not be the need to hire new personnel because we will seek volunteers to staff the programs.  Tom would incorporate the present Adopt-A-Park personal into this new program and, hopefully, increase its effectiveness reducing the present park budget freeing up funds that can be allocated to capital improvements or even a reduction in the park millage. Although Tom knows it is difficult to recruit volunteers he has been successful recruiting helpers over the last 15 years to his T. Wall Foundation. (Link to www.twallfoundation.com )

One of the aspects of the Hands On Program will be to maintain the maintenance of our parks by having our local elementary children taking a vested interest in them during school hours.  Each student would give back to the City of Ann Arbor 10 hours a year of community service. This could be accomplished by making the Hands on Ann Arbor Program part of the curriculum. It would not mean extra preparation time for the teacher because the lesson plan could be developed and taught by older student volunteers from our local high schools that are eco friendly. The Hands on Ann Arbor Campaign begins the first week of classes where the kindergarteners would take a walking field trip to their nearest city park. They would be taught something green from the lesson plan and then everyone would pick up all the papers in the park. The first and second grade classes would participate by pulling the weeds and picking up sticks. The third and fourth grade classes would be involved planting flowers and watering. The 4th graders would have the task of cutting the grass in and around the playground (Push lawn mowers only, provided by the city). The 5th graders would be involved in landscaping…and so on.  During the summer months our parks would stay in excellent shape because our children have been taught to care for them. We would have less vandalism in our parks because our children have more respect and a vested interest in our city parks.

The Hands on Ann Arbor Campaign could have 17,000  K – 12 students offering 10 community hours each year. When our students entered High School then they would select an area they are most interested in. By the time our students graduate from HS they would have an incredible knowledge, love and respect for the city of Ann Arbor. Tom is against having a national search to find city employees. With our Hands on Ann Arbor Campaign we would be able to recruit quality workers from within Ann Arbor.