MOC adopt a Highway Litter pickup CONTINUATION July 17th!

[autosurgeon]

MOC Calendar of Events

We will be meeting at 7:00 AM on the 17th at the Panel Room Restaurant. There will be a short Safety meeting (required by the state) and I will hand out needed materials. We can plan to eat breakfast/brunch at the Panel Room and then we will load up and head over to the I94 and get to work. Remember this is a heavily traveled stretch of road and a great way to visibly get the word out!

I would recommend a pair of gloves and some sort of tool to pickup litter with! Bags will be provided.

You also might want bug spray and sunblock!!

If we have 3 people it will take 5 hours with 6 we could do it in 2.5 hours.

Directions

[tygereye]

This would be a 3 hour hike for me, I would love to go, but would need some help with gas... Anyone in Oakland county want to ride with me? If I can get at least one other person to ride with me, I will definately be there... if not, probably won't make it... I can have up to 6 total adults in my vehicle. I get about 20+ miles per gallon on the freeway...

[autosurgeon]

I hope you can find some carpool folks as we would appreciate the help over here!

[anetsprungen]

I'm planning on attending, but if the weather is anything like today, I'll have to abstain. 

My diabetes medicine makes me more vulnerable to heat exhaustion/heat stroke, not to mention more photo-sensitive to the sunlight. 

But I hope it can come together! 


Roy
 

[autosurgeon]

I will have water available for those that are working.

[EM87]

I'll be there.

[autosurgeon]

Weather forecast is looking good low 80's and sunny! Bring those hats and sunglasses and sunscreen if you need it!

[autosurgeon]

My brother and I will be leaving for Hartford in 30 min. See you all there!

[autosurgeon]

Ok so here is an update on how it went.

First I would like to give a huge thankyou to Mosnar87 and EM87 for coming out and demonstrating that gun people can do good things!

The reactions of the people driving by were great lots of honking and waving. Lots of thumbs up.

The 5 hours that the three of us that showed up were out there were hot and exhausting mostly BC we had to walk twice the distance as we only had three people and couldn't leapfrog. We would park the vehicles and walk back to where we left off (in half mile increments) and then work back to the vehicles.

Anyway as a result in 5 hours we only got one side of the highway section done and will be back out there on the 17th to finish the job.

As I said the reaction was great but doing this with three people was not. We could have done the entire thing in 5 hours with 6 people for example.

Here are some pictures..




See the first post for the info on next weekend when we will be finishing the job.

[mosnar87]

Come on, people! This event should be BIG! Let's make it happen!
As autosurgeon mentioned we only had three(3) people show for the event today. If we have just a few more we can eliminate most of the extra walking and get our time down. We are starting this event earlier to avoid the heat of the day and even those of you who can't do physical labor could help out greatly by shuttling the others up and down the roadside. Please consider coming out and helping.

Thanks again to EM87 and autosurgeon for their hard work today.

Please respond below if you plan on being there on the 17th.

[EM87]

I can be there until 1:30.  What time are we starting?

[mosnar87]

Info here.

[anetsprungen]

I'll give it a try.  Can't claim to stay for the whole event, though. 

Heat exhaustion and heat fatigue from direct sunlight are serious health concerns for me.  But the morning should have enough cloud cover to mitigate those concerns.


Roy
 

[autosurgeon]

That is why we are starting earlier... Also with 4 to 6 people we should be done in 2 to 3 hours instead of 5 

[CV67PAT]

Isn't there anyone on that side of the state to participate? In excess of 400 miles round trip is asking a bit I think.

[autosurgeon]

Yes there are folks over here...

[CV67PAT]

But they don't seem to want to help huh?

[autosurgeon]

I don't know if it is that they DON'T want to or if it's a combination of health problems and work schedules..

Either way if we get a couple more we will be just fine.

And hopefully more will come out for the fall cleanup.

[CV67PAT]

Good luck with that. Maybe next time you may want to consider a stretch of road closer to the membership base. Or possibly in an area, like the UP, that members would want to do a group OC vacation in.

[autosurgeon]

I'll see you guys at 7:00 for breakfast!!!

[autosurgeon]

Pictures from today's activities!

[anetsprungen]

Good luck with that. Maybe next time you may want to consider a stretch of road closer to the membership base. Or possibly in an area, like the UP, that members would want to do a group OC vacation in.

This particular event was closer to the "membership base" as it was an event organized by and for the South West Region.  While other MOC, Inc. members were invited and would have been welcomed, the focus was on just one region.  The hope is that it will be expanded to other regions.

Perhaps the South West Region Coordinator would be willing to assist the other coordinators with setting up a similar event in their regions.  However, as I understand how the Michigan Adopt-a-Highway program is administered, they take a group's request under advisement and nominate their preferred stretch of road.  I believe I have read of some groups who were given an assignment but chose not to accept it because the location was too far away.

While it certainly became too hot too soon, it was a good event! 

[autosurgeon]

Thank you for your help Roy! And I hope that by following my plan for only 2 cleanups a year one in the spring and one in the fall the 90+ days can be avoided!

[CV67PAT]

Good luck with that. Maybe next time you may want to consider a stretch of road closer to the membership base. Or possibly in an area, like the UP, that members would want to do a group OC vacation in.

This particular event was closer to the "membership base" as it was an event organized by and for the South West Region.  While other MOC, Inc. members were invited and would have been welcomed, the focus was on just one region.  The hope is that it will be expanded to other regions.

Perhaps the South West Region Coordinator would be willing to assist the other coordinators with setting up a similar event in their regions.  However, as I understand how the Michigan Adopt-a-Highway program is administered, they take a group's request under advisement and nominate their preferred stretch of road.  I believe I have read of some groups who were given an assignment but chose not to accept it because the location was too far away.

While it certainly became too hot too soon, it was a good event! 

Oh I see it's just for the SW Region. It appeared to be MOC, Inc by the way assistance from the far reaches of the eastern area was being solicited. I guess then that a representative showing of members for the SW Region had occurred then.

[autosurgeon]

Pat it is not JUST for the South West region as you put it. It is however in the South West region which is why it is defined as such.

Note when we we originally decided to do this I was the only coordinator at the time. All the other regions either had not ever had a coordinator or did not have one at the time.

The original plan was for each region to adopt a section of highway somewhere in their region. I was given board approval for the wording on the sign. Since the application went in and also since it takes 3 to 6 months for the signs to be installed 4 months have passed since I applied for the section. In that time all but one region has a coordinator and some have a number of deputies also the board has changed as well. No other regions have to date adopted a section of highway.. however unless the board wishes to force the issue or make this a priority that is up to each coordinator.

Finally I am responsible for my region and will continue to do my best to do the job I was given to the best of my abilities.

I cannot run the other regions nor do I have any desire to do so. That is up to the Coordinators in those regions. If you would like to see a sign that says South East Region then Scott Webb is the man to discuss this with. If North West Region the Scott Siefertt is who you should talk with.  If Upper Peninsula then Jason Reese. As the North East region is currently still in need of a volunteer for the job well.. someone will have to step up in that area first.

My final point is that because we have regions and staff in most regions this makes us easier to contact. If some one sees that sign and googles around and finds our website they will know who to contact about that volunteer project. Otherwise they would have no idea.

[CV67PAT]

My point was that since you said to location was cenral to the membership of your region, a representative showing of the membership for your region attended.

I was also making the observation in the other posts that you since you were putting out a request for help from everyone, that you made it seem that all of MOC shouldh have shown up. Your call to action should have been more specific that you wanted members in your jurisdictional area to step up and help.

This would have probably have helped to eliminated the guilt that some felt not being able to travel 4 hours round trip to assist.

[autosurgeon]

I am sorry if those in other regions felt guilt. I meant the call to help for my region ... but would not have turned down any help from other regions had it been forthcoming. I understand as well as anyone the time involved when the location is on the other side of the state. I have made it to a few events on the east side but only a few due to time and money considerations. That is why we have regional event sections.

On OCDO and MGO I unfortunately do not have such a luxury.

Also while the folks that showed were all from the SW region they are by no means all of the OCers over here. Many others had prior obligations. This is why I and other feel spring and fall will be better. Less interference with peoples summer vacation plans. Not to mention the temperature should be more tolerable!

[anetsprungen]

I was also making the observation in the other posts that you since you were putting out a request for help from everyone, that you made it seem that all of MOC shouldh have shown up. Your call to action should have been more specific that you wanted members in your jurisdictional area to step up and help.

CV67PAT,

Autosurgeon could not have been more specific.  The event was posted in the South West Region events board.

If I were to create another board for MOC - wide events/solicitations, would you consent to be the Moderator?  It appears one way to avoid future misunderstandings on the scope of an event's solicitations would be to use a separate board for developing interest, then moving it to the appropriate region that will sponsor it.

A few weeks ago, I did not have the knowledge to do that.  Now I do.


Roy