Spending time at your local park is a great way to have safe, healthy fun these days. Join us for this edition of “Money, I’m Home” to hear the latest news from the Kent County Parks system and learn how you can volunteer or plan your own day of fun at one of our local jewels, Millennium Park.

 

[transcript]

00:06 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m Home. Welcome in. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. From finance to fitness, we bring it all to you every single week. And this week, we are very excited to introduce you today [to] Ginny Sines, who’s the volunteer services coordinator for the Kent County Parks Department and Sam Moore, who is the executive director from the Kent County Parks Foundation. I’ll tell you what, with everything going on in the world, the parks really have a buzz right now. So thanks for being with us, both of you.

00:37 Ginny Sines: Thank you.

00:38 LJJ: Hey, let’s start with you Ginny. You are the volunteer services coordinator. Can you do us a favor and just tell us what is different and unique about the parks right now, especially during COVID? There’s so much questions about, “Well, do I wear a mask outside? Do I not?” What’s going on on your end?

00:58 GS: Well, normally, when we have volunteer events, the whole mission behind it is to bring people together. We want to bring them into the parks. We want them to discover more park sites. We would like them to engage in supporting the natural habitats. But right now, that engagement, we had to change that a little bit because we are going by the guidelines of social distancing. So, some of the changes we have done is we don’t have our open Saturdays where everybody is just invited to come. Instead, we ask groups to contact us, and we arrange certain times and days and certain park sites to accommodate all the people that still want to get outdoors and help support the parks. And then when they’re there, we ask them to social distance. So, we’ve set up the park area where we’re having orientation. We set it up so they can distance. We ask that they bring a mask, because they are required if you go into the restroom facilities. So, we have those on hand if they need them. We disinfect tools. We have pre-registration so that people don’t have to pass around a sign-in sheet.

02:05 GS: So, we’re following all those different guidelines, but most importantly, is we’re changing, revising our project types to fit, so that it’s really fun to get outdoors, engage and feel safe. So, we’re just taking those projects and making them a little bit different so that you can spread out. Instead of having a tree planting where everyone plants in the same area, we might hand one to each person as they come, give them a map, and then they go out and plant it. So, we’re just doing those revisions to make people… to get that feeling of safety and following guidelines and still be able to have some fun and support the parks.

02:44 LJJ: Sam, as the executive director of the Kent County Parks Foundation, you really have the fun position of being able to see all of the parks in an above the world view. I bet, for you, this too has been a little bit kind of, you kind of tilted your head at first, but now people really are heading out to the parks.

03:07 Sam Moore: Yeah, it’s been a huge adjustment. We had to cancel all of our events that we had planned for the spring. And so, it’s been a little bit of a slow process raising money to support the parks, but the parks are experiencing their busiest springtime period in Kent history. So, people really are wanting to utilize the parks. It’s some sense of normalcy. They can get outside. [With] s,o many people working at home, it’s an opportunity for them to get outside, enjoy the parks, walk on the trail, take their pets out, do dog walking. And so, there’s just a variety of activities that can still be done, basically outdoors. So, it’s been an adjustment, but people are really utilizing the parks. It’s been a fun experience.

03:49 LJJ: So, when you look at heading out to the parks, how is it that people can find out which ones are the ones that have access for dogs or the trails for bikes? That’s another thing that’s been so much fun, is that the physical fitness of being able to go out and utilize the trails in that way really has skyrocketed. Is that right, Sam?

04:13 SM: Yeah, that’s accurate. So, the Kent County Parks Department has over 50 miles of trails that they manage throughout the county. And then, within Millennium Park alone, there’s 15 miles of trails. And so, it’s everything from the Fred Meijer Pioneer Trail to the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail, trails at Cannon Township and in Ada, down in M6 Corridor. So, there’s a lot of trails in your area that can be utilized for walking, running, hiking, bike riding. So, they’re really unique, and 50 miles worth so you can really get a nice day’s worth of exercising in the trail network. So, we encourage people to check it out. And if you go to KentCountyParks.org, they have all the information about finding parks, finding trails, the safety measures that are in place. So really, KentCountyParks.org has everything that you would need.

05:05 LJJ: And as people are wanting to volunteer, Ginny, I think that there probably at the beginning was a weariness about how can you still volunteer safely. You already had talked about ensuring that that happens, but how is it that you’re getting the word out to have people volunteer for activities that help the parks?

05:28 GS: Well, one of our biggest ways is the sign-ups that people have done over the years. We have 2,000 or 3,000 volunteers over the years that have been supporting the parks. So we can contact them by email and keep them updated, which we have been doing, and our social media sites, but a lot of people call in. As Sam was saying, it is a popular activity now—getting outdoors—that’s what people are doing. Our volunteers are very busy because they’re just doing all the support projects that you need when you have more visitors at the park. So, we’re getting the word out. We’re just changing it a little bit, but we have seen more of our … We have a steward program where people come in individually, and they go to a park, and they pick their favorite park, and do their favorite type of project, and that has increased exponentially this year. I’ve never seen that many stewards, because they want to get out there. It’s perfect. So, they share the word, and we share it with all of our community groups, so that they can share with their individual members or staff, and that’s how they contact us. So, we’re getting a lot of those, the individuals, which is amazing. And families, of course. So yes, we’re very happy with our plan.

06:43 LJJ: That is so awesome. Hey Sam, when you look at the parks across West Michigan, Michigan, in general, I also read a story about the National parks and how, unfortunately there are people who are not as clean. They’re not picking up their trash. Is that a local issue, too? And I did have a question from one of our members who said they are still under the impression that there’s not trash being picked up because of COVID, or is that not accurate? Are the parks open and ready to go?

07:18 SM: Yeah, that’s not accurate in the Kent County Park System. The trash is being picked up. We encourage people to…  any of the waste that you have, put it in one of the bins. Keep the area natural and beauty for others to enjoy. But the restrooms are open. The trash is being picked up. The only slight change that you would notice is all of the drinking fountains are still closed and will probably be for the foreseeable future. But other than that, everything is going. So, it’s kind of the analogy that I use: When your dog does its business, you do your business and pick it up, and so, please, pick up your dog waste. Pick up your trash. Don’t throw cans and bottles and wrappers. Just hold it with you and put it in a trash bin. There’s plenty of them around the parks.

08:01 LJJ: Ginny, what do you think is the favorite volunteer project that you’ve got going right now that kind of hits your heart?

08:08 GS: The native plantings. We have trees and plants and prairie seeds. Volunteers love to do that kind of project. It’s fun, and it’s something that’s going to last forever, and at the same time, whenever they do those projects, they always go along and pick up trash, if they see it. That is definitely a favorite volunteer project for volunteers and for me to lead. I love it.

08:34 LJJ: That is awesome. Sam, finally, just let us know a little bit about the foundation. It sounds like, well, we know we can volunteer in person and we can give our time, but how can we also get involved in the parks on a deeper level, too?

08:49 SM: Yeah, there’s a lot of ways to get involved, and the volunteer component is wonderful and great, and we really encourage that. And we also, if you have the ability, we’d love to accept donations. KCPF.org, Kent County Parks Foundation, is a great resource and tool for you to be able to invest and support your parks and trails. You can designate your money to a specific park. You can make a general contribution that goes towards supporting our park system. We do a lot of investments in [???], in trail development, and we’re working on, right now, a couple of different projects with expanding some parkland that’s been vacant and doing design work there. We look forward to supporting the Parks Department in that, and I really would encourage businesses and individuals that just support this resource that’s in their community, that’s in their backyard, that is very close to their home where they live and very close to where they work. It’s a great resource. It’s a great tool for them to get out. It’s a great way to exercise and stay healthy during this time.

09:53 LJJ: I will tell you, a park is the place where you really can create a business planning meeting and still stay socially safe. A big highlight, of course, is Millennium Park, which still people do not know about this jewel of a park that we have, that is larger than Central Park, Sam?

10:12 SM: Yeah, Millennium Park is just an incredible, over 1,400 acres, 15 miles of trails within the park system, a great beach area. So if you don’t have the time or the resources to get out to Lake Michigan in the summer, Millennium Park Beach, the great sand and swimming, and we have boat rentals and kayak rentals and paddle board rentals there for your family to enjoy. It is a great activity that’s right in your neighborhood. Most people are 15 to 20 minutes away from it. You can be at the beach and have a wonderful family day. So, our park system has so much to offer everyone, whether it’s biking, hiking, nature, disc golf, and tons and tons of trails. There’s just a lot of unique features. I would encourage people to check out the website, and I think they’ll be surprised that they find out there’s activities that they enjoy right in their local area.

11:05 LJJ: So, anybody who is listening, if you’re involved in Kent County Parks, we thank you very much. If you have parks in your area, do us a favor and make sure that you take a look at their websites, because there’s literally so many things that you will be able to do right in your neighborhood. Ginny, thank you so much for talking today. Sam, thank you so much.

11:26 SM: I wanted to add, thank you so much to Consumers Credit Union for being a sponsor of our parks. We really appreciate all that they do, and it’s a wonderful partnership that we have, and they’re very involved in supporting our park system, so thank you.

11:39 LJJ: Well, we absolutely love it, and you know why? Because we are talking finance to fitness, and if we get out in that park, it’s very healthy, so we sure love that. Well, thank you. Thank you both. You guys have a great week and everybody else have a great week, too. If you have a topic, a subject, a person you would like to have interviewed, let us know. Thank you, Jake Esselink for your production skills. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson, “Money, I’m Home” with Consumers Credit Union.

[music]