Pilot Project Transforms Melvern Hiking and Biking Trails - Unique state-wide initiative!

May 5, 2008 - PRLog -- http://www.fhsu.edu/ccl/kansascorps/

http://www.fhsu.edu/ccl/kansascorps/proposal.pdf

http://www.fhsu.edu/ccl/includes/kansascorps%20documents/flyer.pdf

Kansas Corps Pilot Project makes Melvern trails a reality
 
Melvern, KS - On April 19, 2008, over 50 students and sponsors from 6
colleges and universities across the state gathered to create a hiking and
biking trail in the community of Melvern, Kansas. Working with the local
“Friends of the Trail” committee and their partners, Westar Electric’s
Green Team, the Kansas Trails Council and the PRIDE organization, these
students were able to help a small community convert what was once a
landfill into a health and fitness trail that will stimulate their local
economy. In addition to promoting fitness, the trails are being utilized
as “outdoor” classrooms for the community and school districts in the
surrounding area.

Kansas Corps purpose is to unite student volunteers from Kansas’ colleges
and universities to serve the public service needs of the state of Kansas;
Kansas Corps is higher education serving the public good. With a single phone
call, this group of college student volunteers could be mobilized to provide disaster recovery, social services and/or community development assistance to any region of the state.

This pilot project tested the concept of Kansas Corps. “When college students come together we can do big things,” said Natasha Blackmore, a freshman from Allen County Community College. Kansas Corps college student volunteers from KU, K-State, Fort Hays State, Allen County Community College, and Pratt Community College cleared and raked trails, trimmed trees, cut and removed rock, built picnic tables and benches, and assisted in the bridge building that took place over the creek that
runs through the trails. In addition, student volunteers from the Hospitality/Culinary Arts program at Flint Hills Technical College prepared the meal that fed the approximately 100 volunteers for the day. Together with members of the community and others approximately two miles of trails were completed.

“For those of us who build trails as a hobby we know that the progress
made today is tremendous,” said Tim Gogolski with the Kansas Trails
Council. “We want all of you to know that the amount of work today is
great,” he continued as students prepared to leave for the day.

“The Kansas Corps group was great to work with,” said Joyce Lacey,
“Friends of the Trails” co-chair in Melvern, “The community appreciates
the hard work. It would have taken us a long time to get this much done.”

Resources from the Kansas Volunteer Commission, Huck Boyd Institute for
Rural Development, Insurance Planning Center, Inc. of Emporia, and
Price  Choppers/Country Mart of Emporia made the meal possible. Other
contributors to the day’s event were Linweld, Inc of Hays who provided
gloves for volunteers, American Red Cross of Ellis County and K-State
Volunteer Center who provided bottled water, the City of Melvern who
provided snacks and equipment, the Kansas Trails Council who provided crew
leaders and equipment, and Westar Electric’s Green Team who provided
protective eye wear, staff, and supplies to assist in the trail building.

Those responsible for the organization of the event were members of the
Center for Civic Leadership, Kansas Campus Compact, PRIDE Organization,
the Kansas Board of Regents Student’s Advisory Committee and many others.

“The response to the Kansas Corps initiative has been positively
overwhelming,” said Chantelle Arnold, pilot project coordinator. “Schools,
state agencies, private corporations and non-profit agencies alike have
all been great to work with. They see the tremendous value that college
student volunteers can provide to the state of Kansas.”

“Overall the pilot project was a remarkable success,” Arnold continued.
“We learned a great deal about what it will take to make the Kansas Corps
a reality.”

The Students’ Advisory Committee along with members of the Kansas Corps
planning committee will present the full proposal to the Kansas Board of
Regents at their May meeting. The proposal seeks an endorsement from the
Kansas Board of Regents for the Kansas Corps initiative and asks that
participation of all higher education institutions be promoted.
Additionally, a request for permanent funding beginning in FY 2010 from
the Kansas Board of Regents and the state legislature is sought.

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Kansas Corps is a grassroots effort born in the spring of 2007 to combine the volunteer efforts throughout the state of Kansas.  This program is unique as it is invaluable (no other initiative exists in the United States).  

Kansas Corps is a pool of student volunteers from Kansas colleges and universities who serve the public service needs of the state of Kansas.