By Roger Allen,
One of the volunteers
An amazing amount of sprucing up of the town of Montezuma was accomplished Thursday, April 21, by participants in the school and community’s sixth annual Pride Day, as evidenced by the list reported by Alexa Jack, chairperson.
On the planning committee with Mrs. Jack was Abby Hubbard, aided by Erik Kriegel and Bret Warden.
Pride Day had been scheduled to be held April 22, coinciding with Earth Day.
Fortunately because of the weather forecast a very good decision was made to move Pride Day to Thursday, which turned out to be a near ideal spring day – whereas on Earth Day Montezuma received a reported three plus inches of rain!
Doing the Pride Day work were Montezuma’s sixth through 12th grade students and teachers, along with community volunteers, including delegations of Lions club members and Amwood Homes employees.
A picnic lunch was provided on the west side of the school, then the legion of workers were dispatched to their assignments from a little before 1 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
First held in 2015, this was the sixth annual Pride Day, with 2020 and 2021 bypassed because of the COVID pandemic.
Chairman Jack commented, “We started Monte Pride Day in hopes of a way for the students to give back to the community with all the support it offers over the year. I believe the students did just that!”
“I thought it was a very successful year after being off two years due to COVID. We accomplished so much in just under two hours. It is amazing to see community volunteers, teachers and students work together with a large goal in mind!”
Pride Day accomplishments:
City parks were a major beneficiary. At the East City Park, basketball courts were cleaned and lines were repainted, and two dump truck loads of garbage, leaves and corn husks were cleaned up and disposed of.
At the West City Park, two dump-truck loads of leaves and sticks were gathered. Pillars at the entry and posts lining the park road were painted. At the cemetery, a shed and all fence posts were painted.
Crews planted flowers in the 19 planters around the town square, plus around the welcome signs at the city entrances, and at the historical society.
Another crew helped clean out the basement of the historical society museum building. Gordon Alexander, speaking for the historical society, said the work done by the students “was a huge help.” Flowers were also planted at the nursing home.
Streets were patrolled, gathering enough branches and debris to fill four trailers and pickup trucks.
Fresh mulch was applied to all fence lines and trees at the school.
Also listed: Cleaned veterans monuments at the square; washed windows at the school; cleaned up at Bonham Trail, filling a Ranger with multiple loads of sticks, leaves and trash; cleaned the grounds of Sunnyview Square retirement apartments; and trash was picked up throughout Diamond Lake Park.Whew! And all in under two hours!
