By Cara Spilsbury
For many people, the perfect summer Saturday includes a nice glass of lemonade and a comfy seat.
But the volunteers of Team Haverhill, the independent, nonpartisan, citizen action group committed to improving the city, wanted to spend their morning of Saturday, June 28, repairing the bath house at Plug Pond before the unofficial start of summer, July 4.
Some volunteers balanced on the bath house roof, ripping up the old shingles while safely harnessed. Other volunteers below shoveled up the shingles and filled an entire Dumpster with the refuse.
As if that work wasn't enough, volunteers also weeded the flower bed near the bath house.
The accomplishment, which took the 18 volunteers from around 6:30 to 10:30 a.m., felt to Team Haverhill like an old-fashioned barn-raising, a shining moment for the community.
"When a group of people can accomplish something so large in such a small period of time, there's just nothing more satisfying than that," said Alice Mann, Team Haverhill co-chairwoman.
Thanks to a grant from a private donor, Team Haverhill joined forces with JnR Gutters. The local firm came in after the volunteers stripped the old shingles and installed the new roof. Mann said when she went for a walk by the bath house the following day around 9:30 a.m., the roof was finished.
Employees from JnR Gutters showed the Team Haverhill volunteers how to use the equipment and work safely, Mann said.
Team Haverhill's partnership with the city allowed the city's liability coverage to cover the volunteers as they worked.
One Stop Sub Shop and Variety donated sandwiches for lunch and volunteer Fran Hogan brought brownies for the hungry workers.
Haverhill Recreation Director Vin Ouellette worked with the volunteers all morning and Mayor James Fiorentini presented the first of his new city beautification awards to Team Haverhill.
Leaders of Team Haverhill's Playground Project, one of several initiatives the group is working on this year, picked re-roofing the bath house as the first goal for 2008 because they saw a quick way to immediately benefit the community. The Playground Project is headed by civil engineer Dan DeRoche.
As gas prices continue to climb with the mercury of the thermometer, Team Haverhill wanted to give local families a place to enjoy the summer without having to travel far. Plug Pond was an easy choice for the volunteers to fix because it was in dire need.
"One more year and a good bit of that roof would have needed to be replaced," Mann said, at a substantially increased cost, both in manpower and finances.
Team Haverhill hopes its efforts will draw attention to Plug Pond, which features an installed sand beach, lifeguards, and a hiking trail to Winnekenni Castle.
"This is a tremendous amenity that I don't think a lot of the city knows about," said Mann. "Some of our members have lived in Haverhill their whole lives and never been there."
Next on Team Haverhill's to-do list is the renovation of one or more school playgrounds in Haverhill, pending additional donations.
Inquiries, donations and offers of volunteer help may be sent to the Playground Project at th.playground.project@comcast.net.
Team Haverhill is also planning new murals for downtown and is researching how the city could expand recycling this year. Team Haverhill will have a public information meeting about recycling on July 14 at 7 p.m. in the community room at Pentucket Bank on Merrimack Street.
