Grass-cutting volunteers

By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Grass-cutting volunteers

Daryl Rollins rides a zero-turn mower at Southeast’s Blankenbaker Campus three days a month.

Cutting grass around the ball fields takes about three hours.

In spite of the drone of the mower, Rollins calls it “quiet time.”

A pilot for UPS, Rollins has volunteered to help in outdoor maintenance for about six years.

If he’s flying, another pilot friend, Dave Giddings, rides the mower around the ball fields for him.

“I like to cut grass,” Rollins said. “I figured it was one way to help out at church.”

Dick Sorrell also cuts grass at Southeast. He answered the call for more volunteers at the Saturday Morning Men’s Bible Study a few months ago.

“Mowing is a lot of fun. Rick Razor is good at pulling me out of the ditch if I get stuck,” he said with a laugh.

Razor, who coordinates outdoor maintenance at Southeast, said that mowing volunteers save Southeast about $60,000 a year. Right now, there are about 35 volunteers,
who mow from once a week to once a month. More volunteers are needed to fill gaps in the mowing schedule.

Those volunteers are gold to the outdoor maintenance team. It takes about 100 man hours to cut the 40 acres of grass that must be cut on the campus each week. In
addition to mowers, volunteers can plant flowers or adopt a spot on campus that they keep free of weeds.

“Our volunteers are so faithful,” Razor said. “They have demanding jobs and families, but they serve the church behind the scenes.”

Volunteers are all ages and from all walks of life: pilots, business owners, retirees and homemakers.

Training is provided, and Razor said that he can “put everybody on every skill level to work.”