Volunteering

St. Mary of the Lake Day Care Sandbox

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We were approached for a donation of materials for a cap for the sandbox at St. Mary’s of the Lake Day Care Center in Culver.  Apparently they were having trouble with cats using the sandbox as… well… a sandbox.  They had tried putting a tarp over it, but that solution proved poor.  The various wood materials that were requested though would have made a cap that would have been extremely heavy as well as unlikely to survive the elements for long.  We discussed some options and determined that we had better suited materials for the task, but they were not such that the volunteers could complete the installation.  We then volunteered to take on the task

The sandbox was a prefab structure in a hexagon shape.  Unfortunately it was not constructed “square”.  The first task was to reinstall the sides in a true hexagon form.  Then a framework of treated lumber was constructed overlapping the sandbox structure.  It was constructed in such a way to provide a slope to drain the water that falls on it to the sides.  One side was formed slightly higher than the other side to allow it to lap over the center.  The framework was then covered with corrugated, galvanized, metal building siding with a factory painted Kynar finish.  The edges of the metal proved to be somewhat sharp, so the edges were ground so that they were dull.  To further protect these edges, EMT was bent around the perimeter providing a smooth buffered edge and doubling as a handle for picking up and removing the two halves of the cap.

We were happy to provide this service to St. Mary’s of the Lake.  We have completed projects for them in the past, including the award winning sanctuary renovation we completed in 2007.  We truly hope this donation serves the Day Care Center for years to come.

40/40 Notice

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It’s always nice to be mentioned.  Thanks to Jeff Kenney for the shout-out and quote in the June 16th issue of  the Culver Citizen.  This was an article concerning Jennifer Laurent and Andrea Cook regarding their Forty under 40 recognition, previously discussed here.  Congratulations again to Andrea and Jennifer for receiving the honor.

New Trees

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New Maple at ECC

The Culver Tree Commission purchased new trees and they were installed over Memorial Day Weekend.  Their funds are limited so the number of trees planted this year was fewer than in the past years.

Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has lost several trees along our street scape and the Tree Commission has slated one of our trees, a Wild Cherry, for removal.  We’re not the prettiest face on the street, but I do think our large Oak trees along the street add character.  When I was growing up there was a huge tree in the center of our loop drive, but it has been gone for more than 20 years, recently replaced by a volunteer Tulip Poplar.

For those of you that don’t know, the Culver Tree Commission accepts donations for the purchase of trees.  I spoke to Tree Commissioner Dick Brantingham several times over the past few years about starting some replacement trees along our street scape.  This year we received two Maple trees and a Honey Locust. 

Tulip Poplar in circle drive at ECC

We made a tax deductible donation of $100 per tree to the Marshall County Community Foundation in the name of the Culver Tree Commission.  I would consider that a bargain.  On top of getting a nice tree planted, the Culver Fire Department takes care of watering the new trees in the first year.   (If you’re interested in taking advantage of this and helping the Culver Tree Commission next year, contact Dick Brantingham or Mike Stallings.  You can also contact the Town Hall to let them know you’re interested in helping.)

When I first moved back to Culver, I lived on Ohio Street in the house currently occupied by the Wesley United Methodist Church Thrift Shop.  One of the nice things about that location was the beautiful tree-lined street.  We have several such streets in Culver.  Thanks to the efforts of the Culver Tree Commission, we will have more in the future.

2011 Forty under 40

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Images taken from the Tribune Business Weekly, May 30, 2011
Yesterday I attended the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce’s Forty under 40 luncheon at The Gillespie Center in South Bend.  I was there as Chairman of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC).  Jennifer Laurent, MCEDC Executive Director, was one of the honorees.  I was pleased to see that Andrea Cook of The Midas Center in Plymouth was also there as an honoree.  MCEDC is working to increase our regional ties and the recognition of these two influential women from our community can only help this effort.
Tracy Graham, former Notre Dame football player and current South Bend entreprenuer, was the keynote speaker.  He gave a motivational speech on the future of South Bend, refuting some of the negative connotations left by the Newsweek article naming South Bend #8 among America’s dying cities.  The University of Notre Dame, the convergances of transportation nodes and the high speed internet access provided by the Metronet were among a few of the positives he listed.  For better or worse, regionally our fortunes are somewhat linked to those of South Bend.
 
Thank you to the Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County and the Tribune Business Weekly for recognizing two of Marshall County’s bright young women.  Now we need to press the honorees to continue their efforts and not rest on their laurels.  Jennifer?  Andrea?  We’re waiting!  What are you going to do next to put Marshall County in the spotlight and on the map?  Best wishes for future successes!

Grace Baptist Church Anniversary

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Grace Baptist Church in Plymouth will be celebrating their 50 year anniversary this summer.  They have a dedication marker in the corner of their front entrance commemorating the 1961 establishment of the Church.  There has been some debate regarding whether there is a time capsule behind this stone.  Some of the Church Elders believing that there is a time capsule there and would like to open it as part of the anniversary celebration.

Because of the various projects we’ve completed for the Church, Pastor Elliott asked if we knew if there was a time capsule there or if there was a way of finding out without damaging the marker.  I looked at the marker and the wall and was a little skeptical.  The marker is carved limestone.  From all indications the wall is block with the limestone exterior as a veneer.  The thickness doesn’t really lend itself to allow for a cavity since the total wall thickness is not much more than 12″.  That would allow for 8″ block with 4″ limestone veneer.  If the marker stone is 2″ thick, there might be a 2″ cavity behind it.  If they had also switched to 4″ block in this area, they could have possibly created a 6″ cavity.

I discussed removing the marker with Pastor Elliott.  Even if the marker is only 2″ thick, it would be difficult to cut the mortar surrounding it.  We would not be able to cut all the way to the corners to the full depth with a circular blade without damaging the surrounding stone.  If we stopped short of cutting full depth at the corners to protect the surrounding stone, we would be forced to chip out the remaining mortar taking the chance of damaging the marker.  This on the chance that there is a time capsule…

Matt Peregrine

I made an alternate suggestion that we drill a hole in the block behind the marker and use a camera to check for a cavity.  Matt Peregrine of Peregrine Heating and Cooling has a camera and volunteered to donate part of his Saturday to help.  Matt’s son Steven just completed 5th grade at Grace Baptist School and came along to check out the exploration.  We met this past Saturday, May 28th, to see what we could find.

We used a hammer drill and drilled three holes in the wall.  The first hole was drilled directly behind the marker.  This hole found no cavity.  Not even a block core void.  We went as far as we dared for fear of damaging the marker and were in approximately 8″ when we stopped.  The second hole was drilled above the marker with the idea that we could look down into any cavity.  We had difficulty bending the camera to see down in the gap between the block and stone, so we used that same hole as a starting point and drilled at a 45 degree angle down towards the marker.  In second and third holes we were able to see the gap between the stones, but found no void.   While this didn’t conclusively eliminate the possibility, we felt we had pressed our luck far enough and the Church Elders needed to hear what we found and decide if more destruction was warranted.  I spoke to Pastor Elliott this week and he is going to report our findings to the Church Board.  At this time they plan no more exploration.

I want to thank Matt Peregrine for generously donating his time.  He told me he felt like Geraldo Rivera when he was looking for Al Capone’s vault since the whole thing had an anticlimactic ending.  Apologies to Steven.  I guess he didn’t get to be the first to see the time capsule, but he did get to see his father giving generously of his time and equipment.  Hopefully that will inspire him in the future.