BSA Troop 103 / Rotary Club of Warm Springs

Last year, in 1997, Boy Scout Troop 103, of the Mission Peak District, SFBAC, which meets at Warm Springs Elementary School and is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Warm Springs, installed a concrete paver walkway through the dirt between classrooms, at Warm Springs Elementary School. Troop 103 had been wanting to do a volunteer service project for Warm Springs Elementary School in appreciation for the use of the facilities for the weekly Troop meetings and the monthly parents committee meetings. Troop 103 settled on this project at the suggestion of the Principal, Mrs. Ethel Murphy. The Rotary Club of Warm Springs paid for the 24" square concrete pavers and wood header boards.

This year Troop 103 was looking for another service project, in February 1998. The new Principal, Mr. Wayne Lindeman was contacted. He had several suggestions that echoed Mrs. Murphy’s long term ideas. At this same time, Troop 103’s chartered organization, The Rotary Club of Warm Springs, was also looking for a community service project. Both groups decided to proceed with a joint community service project for the benefit of the Warm Springs Elementary School Community. Dr. Robert Dubro, a local Warm Springs chiropractor who is a member of The Rotary Club of Warm Springs and is the Chartered Organization Representative of Troop 103, was asked to coordinate the two groups and develop the project.

Mr. Terry Barrett of Troop 103, volunteered to plan and supervise the physical aspects of the project. At the beginning of the project, it was estimated that the material cost would be over $2000.00. When all of the supplier companies were told what was planned, they all very generously decided to donate almost all the materials. The final cost figure, including last minute additional items, came down to just over $200.00, which the Warm Springs Rotary Foundation was very happy to cover. Due to the generosity of the suppliers companies, the five separate projects were combined into one large project.

On Friday April 10, 1998, four dump trucks provided at no cost by the Chrisp Company, arrived at Warm Springs Elementary School with 34 cubic yards of fresh compost provided by BFI. Mr. John Lafayette, manager of Mission Valley Rents, showed up with a John Deere tractor with a rear mounted rototiller and proceeded to start breaking up the 4500 square feet of hard packed, adobe clay soil and dumping loads of compost on it. Dr. Dubro, Mr. John Blakely, President of the Rotary Club of Warm Springs, and Mr. Chuck Roberts of Troop 103, spent several hours spreading the compost that John was rototilling. They also broke, tilled, and composted an area between the basketball blacktop and the Little League field for the local Girl Scout Troop to plant groundcover. The initial preparation work was completed at about 5:00 p.m.

On Saturday April 11, 1998, Rotarians, Scouters, Scouts, and parents started to arrive at about 8:30 a.m. with picks, shovels, hoes, rakes, spades, etc. and promptly started working. Almost forty people showed up to help. Everyone was cheerful and apparently oblivious to the constant, mild to moderate drizzling rain that lasted 3 hours. One group started widening the single paver walkway we put in last year, while another group started on the new double-wide walkway. At the same time, another group started planting some of the Aptenia (red apple) plants (25 flats) donated by Lisa Arnold Nursery Sales of Sunol CA. John Lafayette continued to till and compost the soil on the other side of the original walkway, with scouts helping to spread and plant. A photographer from The Argus came and took many photos of the boys at work. After the original walkway was widened, this crew went to the area in front of Classroom 5 and started to create the three tiered, terraced walkway. The pre-existing stepping stones were moved to the area in front of Room 6. After all the planting was finished and walkways completed, the whole area was hosed down, all the plants were watered and everything was cleaned up. The last of the workers left around 5:30 p.m. and the job was done!!!

The following is a list of the volunteers that worked on this project:

ROTARY CLUB OF WARM SPRINGS:

John Blakely, Dave Clayton, Dr. Robert Dubro, Loren, Diane, and Scott Harper, Dick Klotz, Luis Lira, Joyce Mugan, John Souza, Bob Varo, Beate Klingenberg and Tom Geurts.

BOY SCOUT TROOP 103:

Adults: Terry Barrett, Mike Dubro, Dr. Robert Dubro, Marv Hanson, Tim Howard, Bruce Howcroft, Steve & Dorothy Kalla, Mark Kentgen, Doug Kinghorn, John Lafayette, Gordon Lee, Larry Raboy, Chuck Roberts and Allen & Maureen Shroyer.
Scouts: Andy B., Matt H., Jeff H., Jason H., Justin H., Justin K., Matt K., David K., Mike K., Bobby L., Drew R., and Carlis R.

The Donations were from:

Lisa Arnold Nursery Sales
(25 flats of Aptenia (red apple) plants)
9950 Calaveras Road
Sunol, CA 94586
(510) 862-9009 - Contact: Dave Arnold

Mission Valley Rents of Fremont
(John Deere tractor and rototiller)
41655 Osgood Road
Fremont, CA 94539
(510) 657-5600 - Contact: John Lafayette

Browning-Ferris Industries of Fremont (BFI)
(34 cubic yards of compost)
42600 Boyce Road
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-1350 x3007 - Contact: Cheryl Golden

Tri-City Rock, Inc
(14) 16"x16" and (28) 24"x24" concrete pavers)
43157 Osgood Road
Fremont, CA 94539
(510) 651-7761 - Contact: Jack Dent

Mission Concrete Products
(15) 24"x 24" concrete pavers)
125 N. 30th Street
San Jose, CA
(408) 998-2880 - Contact: Pat Quinn

Sunnyvale Lumber
(120 feet of redwood 2"x4" header board and 50 stakes)
44580 Old Warm Springs Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 651-8730 - Contact: Bruce Stinnett

Chrisp Company
(4 dump trucks with drivers)
43650 Osgood Road
Fremont, CA 94539
(510) 656-2840 - Contact: Robert Chrisp

Lira Construction
(2) 8 foot 6"x 6" landscape timbers)
33443 Western Avenue
Union City, CA
(510) 487-4399 - Contact: Luis Lira

John Lafayette
Tractor fuel, pick up, operate, clean up, and return tractor
c/o: Mission Valley Rents of Fremont
41655 Osgood Road
Fremont, CA 94539
(510) 657-5600 - Contact: John Lafayette

Had this project gone out to bid, it is estimated that it would have cost about $5,000.00 to complete. Thank you, one and all, for your time and effort.

On Tuesday, June 2nd 1998, The Rotary Club of Warm Springs and BSA Troop 103 received Certificates of Appreciation from the City of Fremont at the City Council Meeting, "in deep appreciation of their unselfish contribution to their community".

Return to the Troop 103 Home Page
Visit the Warm Springs Rotary Club Page