Care Force Chronicle- Savannah, GA

By Aundrea Dean

Partner: CSX

Volunteers: 56

Service Partner: Savannah Tree Foundation

When: November 12- 13, 2010
TCF: Aundrea Dean, Emily Kean, Dan Nemiroff; Project Manager Christopher Farr

At 8:30a.m. Dan, Emily and I strolled into City Year headquarters with our overnight bags; besides the three of us and our Program Manager Ken Wakwe, the office was empty. The office was really quiet because the rest of the team was in Charleston, South Carolina. All week we had been working on information sheets for upcoming trips in Miami and San Jose. After finishing up the work that we started earlier in the week, Ken informed us that we would be able to leave at lunch to travel to the airport early for our 2 p.m. flight. As time was growing near for us to leave Emily realized that she left her ID at home, from this we should have known that this trip would be anything but ordinary for us!

Even though she left her ID at home, Emily made it to the airport on time; and Dan, Emily, and I were on our way to Savannah, GA. We arrived in Savannah around 7 p.m. and Chris, the Project Manager for the trip, was patiently awaiting our arrival. Once we all settled into our room we went out for a nice dinner at a local restaurant in Savannah’s Downtown Historic District. Over dinner we discussed everything that needed to be accomplished during Friday’s prep.



CSX volunteers breaking up the
roots before planting the tree.

The next morning, Friday November 12, everyone was up, dressed, had finished eating breakfast and was ready for first circle by 8:30 a.m.. For Emily, Dan, and I this was our first Trees for Tracks event with CSX. I was nervous and did not exactly know what was in store for us and knowing that we only had one day to prepare everything for the service event was a little nerve wracking. However, all my fears and worries went away once we arrived at Bazemore Park and Dee Mckoy-Hunter and her team met us. Her team had already unloaded the trees, pre-dug the holes for the trees, and the soil was on site. The only thing we needed to do, or so we thought was to move the trees to their designated planting areas and go through Chris’ extensive training on Care Force 1, our intermodal container. After moving trees across the park it was brought to our attention that the soil was too far from the tree planting area. Now we had to figure out the most efficient way to move ALL the soil to the trees- it was three huge mountains of soil. So as we were shoveling the soil into the back of a pick up that the park let us use, one of the park workers informed us that they had a Caterpillar Backhoe. The worker used the Caterpillar to start helping us move the soil while we loaded and unloaded 3 truck loads of soil. It took us at least three hours just to load and unload the truck. However, we enjoyed being able to ride back and forth in the back of the truck and hearing Dan speak Spanish with the park worker. Finally, there was a lesson to be learned, never assume anything or that a day will be easy or short on a Care Force trip!
After the crazy adventure with the soil and being saved by the guy with the Caterpillar; we were able to get started on our extensive lesson on Care Force 1. Care Force 1 is what we like to describe as our “home Depot on wheels” which was donated by our team sponsor, CSX. We spent hours going over ratchet straps, safety and other logistical things necessary to successfully and safely load and unload Care Force 1.



CSX Volunteers planting trees.

The following morning Saturday, November 13, the Care Force team and Savannah Tree Foundation volunteers met up at Bazemore Park around 6:20 a.m. in preparation for the CSX volunteers, to arrive around 7:30a.m. We set out the registration materials, welcome signs for CSX and the tools necessary for planting trees. Around 8 a.m. Dan, Emily and I grabbed our team signs and began gathering CSX volunteers to do Physical Training to get our powerful day of service started. After P.T. we heard from the Garden City Mayor, Tennyson Holder, as well as a speaker from CSX and from the Savannah Tree Foundation. Following their brief speeches, Chris did a quick logistical and safety overview and the work began.



Trees planted along pathway.

Each team started with tree planting demonstrations; Emily and Dan ran theirs while Patrick Grant, from the Savannah Tree foundation, led the example for my group since I had the largest team. Within the first forty-five minutes Emily’s team was able to plant all 17 of their trees. Her team began helping my team gather soil, planting, and watering trees. All 80 of the trees were planted, staked, and watered. The volunteers also moved and organized all of the materials to Care Force 1. Chris concluded the morning by allowing everyone that spoke in the morning to thank the volunteers for their participation in the day’s events; and showed them to the lunch area. Our team loaded the tools on to Care Force 1 and cleaned up the registration area. To conclude a perfect service day, as soon as we closed the doors to lock the container the driver pulled up to haul it away to the next service site.

We quickly made our way back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready to head to the airport. By 5p.m. Chris, Emily and I were arrived in Boston and Dan was making his way to Miami to begin another event.