Rain means nothing to rowers. They are, they’re glad to remind you, out on the water five days a week, come what may from the skies above.
“The only time practice would be canceled is if there’s whitecaps or really extreme weather,” says Hayley Ransom, a junior in her third year with Bainbridge Island Rowing.
Adds junior Bennett Hay: “But then we’d just go inside (the boathouse) and work out. We’re out here no matter what.”
No surprise then that a contingent some 60 strong turned out for the club’s latest ParksCorps volunteer stewardship event at Waterfront Park – under soggy winter skies, and on Super Bowl Sunday at that. Not to row, but to steward the park.
Site of the new Stan Pocock Rowing Center, Waterfront Park is home ground for the rowers. The club has adopted the park environs in turn, and the ParksCorps event was the sixth stewardship day there. Rowers grubbed out invasives from the Eagle Harbor shoreline, and spread mounds of mulch along pathways and planted areas.
“We’re on the community’s land, so we need to make sure that the team gives back to the community,” says Andrew Block, Bainbridge Island Rowing board member and Junior Parent Representative. “One way we can do that is by making sure our home park, Waterfront Park, is looking great. We love being a part of making sure it looks as it should.”
ParksCorps, a program of the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, rewards local clubs and nonprofits for performing environmental restoration work.
A club may pull weeds, plant new shrubs, or spread mulch – or all three – in a typical event. For every person-hour of volunteer work, the team earns $14.
The Waterfront Park event earned Bainbridge Island Rowing a $1,680 grant for their program – critical funding for the club’s competitive travel, which takes them north to British Columbia and south to Oregon.
“It’s huge,” Block says. “To travel to (rowing) regattas is super expensive. We’ve got 100 kids going, and we have at least three ‘away’ regattas, if not four. To cover some of the cost by doing good in the community, it’s a great way to cover it.”
Want to earn some funds for your club or team through ParksCorps? Email Kari Siceloff, Community Programs Manager, kari@biparksfoundation.org.
Carousel photos courtesy of Andrew Block, Bainbridge Island Rowing