Team Happy Hours Lends a Hand to the Washington Trail Association

I was never really good at putting tents together, so I was pretty sure that I was going to embarrass myself assembling the tent kits for the Washington Trail Association to make sure the kits had all the pieces in them.  Fortunately, 100% of the tents that I tried to assemble, had pieces missing, so I was spared having to find out if I could have actually assembled one if everything had been there.  Other groups actually put their tents together.  One of the brightly colored ones came out looking like a piece of abstract art, like a miniature EMP.  I made everybody listen to me say at least once, "You know what we can say when people ask us about our volunteer project?  We can say that it was really 'in tents'!"

Erin also had us inflate some of the inflatable mattresses to make sure they didn't leak.  None of us really wanted to put our own mouths on the mattress inflator valves so Erin had to blow them up for us.  I was going to, but then I remembered, if you share a mattress inflator valve with one person, you're also sharing it with all the people that that person has ever shared a mattress inflator valve with, so you have to be safe.

-Bennett, Team Happy Hours

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Stores that sell outdoor gear are one of my biggest weaknesses.  I can spend hours in REI just looking at their different types of camping equipment and hiking gear, so I was super excited when I found out that we were going to be testing camping equipment.  It was really cool being able to set up different types of tents that I had no idea how to set up and be able to crawl in them and see the difference in space for each tent, the different features that each tent has, and being able to see the size to weight ratio.  The entire time we were there I kept thinking "How cool would it be to go on a trip with the Washinton Trails Association as a teenager and learn basic backpacking skills?"  I've never been in a backpacking 101 class so I'm still learning a lot about backcountry safety, leave no trace skills, etc.  WTA does great work maintaining hiking trails and getting people out in nature and I'm glad we got to help them out and learn more about their programs.  

-Lydia, Team Happy Hours

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I was really proud of my team this past weekend. Our project was in North Bend and while that doesn't sound THAT far, it is when you're asking people to get up earlier than usual and then to travel 40 extra minutes just to get to their volunteer project on time. Not only was everyone on time, we all pulled together to carpool to save gas and be more environmentally conscious (it IS Earth Month for goodness sakes!). The carpools (with 2 meeting places by the way) worked out great and on top of that, I didn't hear any complaints about the project or having to travel to North Bend. I appreciate how hard my team works on a monthly basis and am lucky to have a such a supportive, thoughtful team, who are wiling to go above and beyond the call of duty, no questions asked. There were 12 people who attended our project and 11 of us carpooled, taking only 4 cars instead of the 12 we would have taken otherwise! Big difference if you ask me!

- Cameron, Team Happy Hours

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Blog Post for Saturday, April 18th:

 

Like the barbarian hordes we descend upon a single, newly hired volunteer organization employee, who cowered at the awesome might of a legion of eager Seattle Worksers. Last weekend's Seattle Works event with the Washington Trails Association facility in North Bend revealed to me that a dozen or more people can get an awful lot accomplished in an afternoon. 

 

Our host, Erin, clearly had a short list of duties that we could help with that would benefit the many people who participate in the WTA's backpacking tours to raise awareness for, and help protect, Washington state's precious natural resources.  She spoke of what sounded like marvelous multi-day camping tours to both the "front country" (those areas accessible by roads) and the "back country" those areas that required significant travel by foot or boat to find.  The WTA facilitates all the transportation, camping equipment, and food used on these hikes and thus has the difficult task of continually maintaining and replenishing this equipment. Well, when maintaining means cleaning, you need not go further than look for our group to heed the call.

 

We did such a good job that Erin was unable to find enough equipment for us to scrub, polish, assemble, and test for us to fill up our allotted time.  We could tell that our efforts were an enormous relief to her, and that we blew away the expectations.

 

All in all, it was a good diversion, and we got some good coordination with carpooling on account of our mercilessly efficient Team Captain to help reduce the pollution that we used to accomplish the task.  Bring it on, Seattle Works!

- Casey D., Team Happy Hours

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It was a great experience going out to North Bend and seeing the effort that goes into preparing for teams of people to go out to help maintain our States Trails.  The experienced helped some of us learn just how easy and difficult building a tent can be and thankful that we knew we were sending other volunteers out with all the correct and working equipment.

-Michelle, Team Happy Hours

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Our last vonunteer project at the Washington trails association was very interesting. I never knew an organization existed that took groups of people out onto the trails for weeks at a time for only the price of food. It was fun to learn about the different ages of groups and their trip durations and what they did for the trails. I am an avid hiker and always wondered who built the bridges and retaining walls 4 hours into a hike. I'm glad we were able to assist them as they seem to be a bit overwhelmed since it is the beginning of their busy season.

- Casey P., Team Happy Hours

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As someone who has volunteered in diverse organizations ranging from after-school programs to community theatre groups, I've been lucky to have interacted with people of all ages and backgrounds. Aside from appreciating the tangible difference that I've made in other people's lives, the one thing I've come to value most about those experiences is what they've taught meabout the realities of life. 

 

There have been too many times in the past where I've caught myself becoming too accustomed to a regular paycheck or a particular way of life, and without any kind of interaction with people outside of my narrow social circle, I've discovered that it's dangerously easy to start feeling a certain sense of entitlement towards the material things in life.  Making sure that I continue to engage with various charitable organizations through volunteer work, I'm able to keep my desires in check and become more socially aware of the social and economic issues affecting the Seattle community and beyond.

- Ann, Team Happy Hours
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For this past Team Works event, our group volunteered with the Washington Trails Association in North Bend.  Although I will admit I was not looking forward to the trek out there, it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and it inspired me to get out my camping gear and make sure it was ready for summer! Basically, we were responsible in organizing gear for the coming WTA volunteer trips in which volunteers hike out into the backcountry and create and maintain trails for the public’s use. It was quite humorous watching us all try and assemble tents and stoves- some of us with a little more skill and knowledge than others.  Perhaps the most entertaining memory is that of us all lying out on a tarp in the middle of the gravel parking lot on sleeping pads. We had to make sure everything was in working order and no one likes a deflated sleeping pad!  All in all, it was a fun and even educational experience (for those who had never gone camping J ), and it made me appreciate the wonderful trails and outdoor recreational areas we have available to us in Washington.

-Sara, Team Happy Hours

 

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Volunteering for the Washington Trails Association was a refreshing change of pace.  It was interesting to help an organization that is not specifically dealing with issues of poverty, disability, health or education, but that is still providing what I believe to be a valuable service.  I hadn't realized the types of things that the WTA is doing for the community and for the groups that uses its resources, but I was very impressed after hearing about it.  I'm glad to know that there is an organization working to ensure that people still have the access, opportunity and understanding to explore and enjoy our natural areas in Washington state (and do it in a respectful way!).  It was also nice to get out of the city on a nice day, even though the drive was further than our normal Team Works days.

Micah, Team Happy Hours

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Comments

[Crane Trucks]

It is great that people are thinking about the environment and working to make the world a safer place. Not only the materials that you are using on your home are safe for the environment but dump trucks have come a long way since the earlier models. We are learning and expanding and coming up with a wide range of safer more effective vehicles for the work force. I think it is great that many auto manufacturers are turning to hybrid vehicles to protect the environment and now they are even using hybrid dump trucks.