Sole Sisters

by Mary Reiman
 

Making a difference. I would love to save the whales, prevent wildfires, discover a cure for every infectious disease, stop the oil spills, and save the world in general. But I know my limitations and when the world news seems overwhelming, I sometimes think anything I do won't make a difference at all. 

Then I remember my favorite quote painted on the wall at Southeast High School. From Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." 

So how can I help make the world a better place? Well, thanks to Becky, a group of us have now taken action. 

We clean a park. It might not sound like much but we've adopted a city park and are quite proud of it. Every week, two or three of us pick up trash at the American Legion Park on the corner of 27th and Randolph Street. It is a well used park with playground equipment and a picnic area and a parking lot for easy access. Thanks to Cheri, we named ourselves 'Sole Sisters.' 

Yes, we are proud. We are also grateful to the city for putting up a sign that it's our park!

Several months ago the food pantry in the park fell apart.  Thanks to the Boys and Girls Club of Lincoln for replacing it. Stop by any time and add food items. Often it has been emptied before we even leave the park. Yes, there is great need.

From the City of Lincoln website: "Parks are FUNdamental to Lincoln's wellness. We enjoy 133 parks in Lincoln with more than half of them identified as neighborhood and mini-parks. Parks and Recreation also cares for almost 4,000 acres of natural greenspace areas, four fenced dog parks, disc golf areas, and skate parks." They are ALL well used. Here is the list of the Lincoln Parks. Have you strolled through all of them? And the map of Lincoln Trails.  Have you walked all the trails? When you were walking, did you think about how clean they are? 

Adopting a park or trail or providing landscape maintenance in Lincoln is not difficult. The application form is available online: https://www.lincoln.ne.gov/City/Departments/Parks-and-Recreation/Volunteer/Adopt-a-ParkTrail-Application. You can adopt in one or two-year adoption cycles.

There are many, many volunteers throughout Lincoln and we give thanks for all their efforts from filling backpacks and organizing fundraisers to building houses and repairing bikes. And that is just naming a few. So many ways to help throughout our city. So many good and important causes. For several years we did not have the opportunity to give back, now again we do. We volunteer as a way of saying thank you for our great fortune to live in a community that is supportive and safe and generous. We take action as a way of feeling we can do something to make our world better.

I am proud to be a Sole Sister and every time I drive by our park, I smile. Whether there are families using the swings, someone finding food at the pantry, or someone waiting at the bus stop, I smile. 

Because for this city park, and the people who visit there, we are making a difference.