Volunteers honor King with a day of service
Rhonda Berney of Sebastopol throws a load of blackberry branches onto a pile during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day work party at Foothill Park in Windsor on Monday.
JOHN BURGESS/PRESS DEMOCRAT PHOTOSPublished: Monday, January 17, 2011 at 3:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, January 17, 2011 at 3:00 p.m.
In the spirit of community service for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, dozens of people Monday morning grabbed garden loppers and marched up a trail at a Windsor county park, set to tackle blackberry brush.
“It's a chance to participate...to give back,” said Rhonda Berney of Sebastopol as she paused from the group attack on an RV-sized mound of the invasive bush.
Service at the Windsor park was one of several opportunities in the region, the state and across the nation available to people who wanted to mark the 25th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Day by providing service.
Around the Bay Area there also were marches, rallies and a South Bay freedom train ride to honor King, the slain civil rights leader who preached a message of nonviolence, equality and the need to do for others.
Berney and her husband Richard Shipps had never before volunteered on the day. They joined about 50 others from around the county at 10 a.m. Monday in the parking lot of Windsor's Foothill Regional Park.
Foothill is a popular park off of Arata Lane on the edge of a large Windsor neighborhood. The 211-acre, oak-studded park offers expansive views and elevation changes and draws hikers, dog walkers and horse riders from around the county.
On Monday, county park rangers and park aides provided tools and organized the volunteers into a large group to clear out non-native Himalayan blackberry and a smaller group to trim overgrown Douglas Fir trees.
New county Supervisor Mike Mcguire, who represents the north county, was one of the volunteers.
“All of you had an opportunity to sleep in. You could be drinking a cup of coffee and reading your paper,” Mcguire told the group as they stood in the fog before heading up the hill. “You're all out here reinvesting in the community. This is what the day is all about.”'
Park aides led the warmly clad blackberry group on a short hike up to one of the park's ponds and a nearby tangle of blackberry.
It didn't take long for the enthusiastic volunteer gardeners cut the brush down to nothing.
“Isn't it like a plague of locust?” asked volunteer Donna Matern of Sebastopol, pausing as she helped clear the brush.
Matern rides her horse at Foothill and said she jumped at the chance to help the park.
“I'm delighted to be able to be out here,” she said.
The volunteers included several children.
Eleven-year-old Maddy Barnard of Windsor was with her parents and miniature Schnauzer, Banjo. She said she was glad to be helping out.
“It's cool. It's Martin Luther King Day. It's sort of has to do with that,” said the girl, taking her turn holding the dog while her parents chopped at the brush.
Her mom, Laura Barnard, is a science teacher at Monte Rio Elementary School. “We hike here all the time,” she said. “I love doing community service.”
In west Santa Rosa Monday afternoon another group of volunteers helped out at Piner Creek, combining creek clean up with a nature walk.
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