A group of twenty volunteers cleared a nature trail through a forested portion of the Aberdeen Elementary School grounds
“This past Saturday a group of Tyler’s friends converged on the Aberdeen Elementary School to participate in the 2nd CommuniTyler event. About 20 of us showed up to help cut a “Nature Trail” through a forested portion of the school grounds. This entailed mostly cutting back various weeds and brush, and spreading a thick layer of mulch over the entire length of the trail. As the trail blazing efforts were progressing reasonably well, a smaller group of us began hauling loads of mulch via a small truck from the front of the school back to the trail location for spreading. This, however, was turning out to be somewhat inefficient and was going to be quite labor and time intensive (not to mention dangerous with too many pitch forks and people in a small area). In other words, things weren’t looking good for completing the trail in a timely manner and/or someone suffering from a puncture wound. However, our fortunes made a turn to the good when a rather large dump truck appeared with over 30 cubic yards of fresh mulch which was able to be conveniently deposited directly on the end of the trail (See pictures if you want to see what this much mulch looks like). Now it was just a matter of spreading the mulch over the trail path using whatever means available. Everyone and everything from rakes, shovels, wheel barrels, and truck beds were put into service. Within a few hours the rather large piles disappeared and the trail was covered with a healthy layer of mulch. Tyler would have approved!
As for me, this day was yet another opportunity to feel good about doing something to preserve the memory of Tyler and the joy he brought to all of us during the relatively brief time we got to be around him. As I reflect, I always have a few bittersweet moments during these CommuniTyler occasions. Even though I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to get to know and spend time with Tyler I have to confess that sometimes I selfishly resent the opportunities that I have lost. ”
−John Barrick
