DHS teacher Chris Billingsley reports both DHS teams who participated in Park Renewal Day at Dearborn Park this morning won cash prizes.  I’m sure the good folks at Renewal will also report back soon with a full list of the winners, but few can match Chris in shear speed of turn around on a story!

He writes in…

More than thirty DHS students participated in the Dearborn Park Renewal Day. Most of the students belonged to either the DHS Close Up Club or the DHS Bulldog 13 (made up of 9th grade students). The DHS Bulldog 13 team, led by Mr. Beau Dominguez, won $100. This will become part of the 9th grade donation to be given at the end of the year to a local charity.

The DHS Close Up Club won $200 that will be used to help pay for a day trip to the Gettysburg battlefield during our week in Washington, D.C. The DHS Close Up Club dedicated their efforts in memory of Allan Calloway, a DHS and GA. Tech graduate who volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War. Mr. Calloway lost his life in that conflict. Through our work today, we honored his sacrifice and the sacrifice of all the veterans from the City of Decatur.

Most of the pictures are of the Close Up Club. Mr. Dominguez will post pictures later.

After the jump, you can view a few pics of the students hard at work, again courtesy of Mr. Billingsley. Read the rest of this entry »

DHS teacher Chris Billingsley reports in…

I want to let you know that Decatur High School is planning on having two teams at Saturday’s Dearborn Park Renewal Day, a DHS Close Up team and a FX (9th grade) team. The CU team will use any prize money to provide scholarships for our Washington, D.C trip. The FX team will donate any prize money to a local charity.

In addition, the DHS Close Up Club is setting up another “Rake&Run” service project for November 14 from 9:00 until 4:00. A team of students and adult chaperons will come to your Decatur area home, rake and bag leaves, mulch plants, and clean gutters. This is a free service project but donations will be gladly accepted. The CU Club is trying to raise funds to take a trip to Gettysburg while we are in Washington, D.C. Our Close Up trip is scheduled for April. Please send an email to cbillingsley[at]csdecatur.net if you are interested.

In that vein, the AJC has a nice article about Park Renewal Day in today’s “paper.”

Kelly Cheek at Renewal writes in alerting the general public that “Park Renewal Day” at Dearborn Park is fast approaching (November 7th from 8a-12:30p to be exact). Teams looking help clean up the park (and win some big cash prizes) should get on over to the Park Renewal Day website and fill out/submit the sign up sheet before the deadline on October 24th.

Here are many of the pertinent details from a recent press release…

“Dearborn was chosen for the competition again due to the large amount of invasive species and debris not yet cleared from the park.

This year’s participating teams will compete for big prize money with the five highest-scoring groups taking home $1,000, $500, $300, $200, and $100, respectively. Each team’s assigned plot will be scored by County Park experts and local celebrities. The judging panel for this year’s event will include Decatur’s own Mayor Bill Floyd.

Teams eligible to participate in the competition include school organizations, Boy Scout troops, religious groups, and any group of people willing to come together, help the park, and raise funds.”

Looks like fun was had by all at the first annual Park Renewal Day at Dearborn Park this past Saturday!  (The event was put on by Renewal Construction, DeKalb County, and the city of Decatur)

Thanks to an army of volunteers, many areas of Dearborn once riddled with invasive plants are now clean and accessable.  See lots of pics of the event, including some impressive before and after ones, on Zenner Enterprise’s website. [h/t: The Decatur Minute]

Big prizes were awarded to groups based on the quality and quantity of their clean up work in designated areas.

• 1st Prize ($1000): Invasive and Persuasive
• 2nd Prize ($500): Ivy League
• 3rd Place ($350): Decatur Bulldog Boosters
• 4th Place ($250) : Kudzu Krunchers

In a follow up note, DHS teacher and Close Up Club advisor Chris Billingsley informs DM that even though Close Up didn’t win any money for their trip to D.C., they had a great time.  PLUS, the Decatur Bulldog Boosters, who won 3rd place, were so impressed with Close Up’s efforts that they donated their $350 winnings to the club’s trip!

So congrats to all the winners with a special nod to the Decatur Bulldog Boosters!

Generosity breeds generosity!

A great concept…

On November 15th from 9a-1p, Renewal Construction is sponsoring the 1st annual “Park Renewal Day” at Dearborn Park in Decatur.

According to a press release from Renewal, the event “will feature teams competing to clear and uproot invasive plants for the chance to win big prize money. Officials from DeKalb County and Decatur,along with other prominent community figures, will judge the quality and quantity of work done to each team’s designated plot. Prize money will be allocated to the top four teams ($1,000, $500, $350, and $250, respectively).”

After all that sweating kudzu pulling, Renewal is promising food, live entertainment and of course an awards ceremony.  (“This baby’s going on the mantle!”)

Teams need to be registered by October 25th.  See the event’s website for all the details.