June 3, 2006, August 12, 2006 - 3rd Charter Oak Rover Crew Adopts First Spiritualist Church of Willimantic.

The city of Willimantic is known for having one of the greatest collections of victorian homes, and this RSL's church happens to meet in one of these fine old homes. The location is very urban, and unfortunately, the home of the First Spritialist Church was in need of some TLC. The lawn was in desperate need of cleaning up, the front flower beds were dried and withered, and the side yard was overgrown with brush. Parts of the city teeter on the brink of economic decline, and in this case, it was time to take some action. Luckily, I knew of a crew looking for a service project.

The first thing we figured was that we could inject some new life into the property just by adding some plantings along the front. I had been told many times that people had tried planting flowers out front but had never succeeded. I described the site to Jay, who came up with a garden plan for us. Jeff and I set out for the Ashford transfer station and hauled a load of compost over the the church (withstanding yet another record torrential downpour). We turned the soil and added the compost. We cut a new edge to the bed, and in went several flats of marigolds, argeretum, and impatiens. We cut down scores of scrub oak and even de-rooted a few that had been cut back repeatedly over the years. Finally, we applied brush killer to poison ivy and invasive bittersweet vines which threatened to overtake the front porch. Check out the before and after shots on the photos page... a few hours of work made a tremendous difference.

The next day the pastor happened to be performing the service at church. She and several of the church board members took notice - they were rather estatic that someone had come to take care of their building.

In August, Jeff, Erik and I returned. After a summer of heat and gusty thunderstorms, the yard was in need of additional cleanup. An outdoor wedding was coming up on the church calendar. We just couldn't have people stepping over fallen branches and such. Jeff and Erik raked the entire yard and rounded up four bags of leaves. Jeff pruned a few of the older trees to remove some deadwood and to bring some more light into the back yard. The siding on the lower level got washed, removing what should have been inches of dirt. The front flower beds were suffering a bit, and one quick look showed us why... there was still very little organic matter to hold moisture (the compost went in on an exceptionally rainy day). Lesson learned - next year, add a bale of peat. Some crafty rearranging of the plantings and addition of a few perrenials woke the garden right up... and the grounds were looking good again. Our friends Barbara and Keith got married in a place they could be proud of.

The crew received a very nice thank-you note from the church board. They're very excited to have us around. The property needs a lot more work done... we'll no doubt be back. Our timing was perfect, because in the last year, the church community has turned a corner, adding a whole slew of new, younger members. It's nice to see the church come alive again, both from the outside and the inside. We realize we made just a small contribution to the big picture, but it's the little things that add up... In the beginning we asked ourselves, "What can just five people do?" The real question should be, "Well, what CAN'T we do?"