Over the summer months the local parks are used very heavily by township residents and their children. Unfortunately, they quickly become covered with trash. Also, the mulch used as soft padding which is provided to break a fall at the end of sliding boards and jungle gyms give way to holes, mud, and puddles due to heavy use. The targets of the clean up effort were Koons Park in the Linglestown area, Kohl Park off of Union Deposit Road, and Brightbill Park behind the Colonial Commons Shopping Center.
The crew began its stop at each park with trash bags in hand and scoured the grounds for unwanted debris. Over six large 45 gallon bags were filled at each park with glass bottles, candy wrappers, old athletic tape, and other unsightly garbage. Though particular attention was paid to the playgrounds where the youngest children play, they covered the sports fields, woods, and even the bathrooms.
When asked why the company chose this service project over many other possibilities, Craig G. Malesic, LC, Project Manager and Master Electician quickly answered, "These are our parks, too. We grew up catching garden snakes over there [pointing in the direction of the woods at Brightbill Park] and spent countless hours on these very basketball and tennis courts. There wasn't always a group of good citizens around to keep our playgrounds clean and safe back then - I, for one, would like to see that change for this newest generation of outdoor lovers."
"The most rewarding part of the day," added Christian D. Malesic, President / CEO and father, "was watching the children play on the swings and slides that had essentially been closed to them because of the large worn-away holes filled with water. Even though the sun was shining and the kids and parents were out in force, the rains from the last few weeks remained in those holes and shut down half of the play equipment, for all reasonable uses." He went on to say, "I was amazed at how many mothers and fathers approached us to thank us for sweating for their kids, giving us immediate feedback that we were doing a good thing. It was a dirty job and hard work to pick up trash and fill in all of those holes, but the smiles and laughs coming from the children made it all worth while."
The crew even took their own 'offical tester' with them, Christian's three year old daughter Sarah Malesic of Linglestown. Her job was to swing on every swing and try out every sliding board, once the men had got them back in top shape. Sarah had a ball and took her job very seriously, in most cases 'testing' every sliding board numerous times before 'signing off' on the work. Over the course of the day, Sarah (thought she) was the boss, often commenting "This one is good, Mr. Steve, but that one over there needs help" or "Thanks Mr. Kip, this is fun."
CM Squared, Inc. is a community service oriented company. The company sponsors at least one service project each calendar quarter, working on such projects in the past as Operation: Hearts & Hammers - Remodelers Work for Vets and as regular volunteers at the Harrisburg Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. In addition, most of the company employees volunteer their personal time at their local chuches, for their elementrary or high schools, and for organizations such as Rebuilding Together (formally Christmas in April) and The Humane Society.
"Volunteering is part of who we are. Service to the Community is part of our Mission Statement" said Christian Malesic, "It is important to us that we give back to the communities that give us our livelyhood."
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