BANGOR, Maine — The City of Bangor is welcoming a team of eight AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Care members to help clean and revitalize parks and trails throughout the city.
The "Cedar 7" team members come from all parts of the United States and are spending two months in Bangor cleaning parks, fixing trails, building bridges for everyone to safely enjoy.
"We do a variety of different types of work...but right now we are doing urban development mixed with some environmental conservation," said John Buhse, one of the AmeriCorps team members.
"It's a big application that you have to submit. They decide what areas of this country these teams have to go, they build communities, it helps create leadership, and they chose Bangor for one of their stops," said Debbie Gendreau, the Bangor Parks and Recreation assistant director.
This week the team will be beautifying Cascade Park. Gendreau said Bangor has 32 parks and maintaining all of them is hard work, so this service is very much needed and appreciated.
Gendreau said the city has some permanent workers that focus on maintaining the city but it's not enough to maintain all of the parks and trails the city has to offer.
"The City of Bangor has 32 parks, it has five different trail systems and to maintain, it takes a lot of work and to get this team here is a big deal," said Gendreau.
"We'll be here for about two months in Bangor, last month we were in Minnesota, so we travel all throughout the country."
"Bangor is like the hub of eastern Maine, so people come from all over to enjoy our park systems and our trails, and so this is what their goal, AmeriCorps community goal, and their mission are to strengthen communities and to build leaders amongst themselves, and they are definitely doing that," Gendreau said.
After they finish cleaning and beautifying Cascade park, the team will also do some cleaning and help widen up trails at the Bangor City Forest and Essex Woods.
"Within four days, this place is looking so different," Gendreau said, referencing Cascade Park.
Buhse said he enjoys doing the service work because it's something always needed.
"I am at an age where I can set up a foundation to understand what communities need, especially at a time of a global pandemic, need is always there."
Those interested in being part of an AmeriCorps team can check out their work here.