North Shore Branch

Waimea Valley Work Day

A few years ago, Melani Spielman, who is the Volunteer Coordinator for Waimea Valley, spoke at one of our North Shore Outdoor Circle General Membership Meetings. She told about the valley needing help keeping the many botanical areas healthy and looking good. It is a massive job. The valley is almost a mile in length, and is home to over 5,000 documented types of tropical and subtropical plants including some native Hawaiian plants and globally endangered species that are found nowhere else on earth. In other words, too much for a small modestly paid staff to care for. She was looking for help. Keeping the North Shore clean, green, and beautiful is just what we do, so the NSOC signed up to adopt a garden in the valley. We adopted the Torch Ginger Alley, and we have been heading up there every last Monday of the month. (Of course, we were unable to help out last year, when the valley was closed for the pandemic.)

We arrive at 8:00 am, walk up to the garden with Melani, grab some gloves, and some garden tools and get to work pruning, dead-heading, raking, and weeding. In other words, we give the area some love. We also have the opportunity to get to know our neighbors. Shared physical activity, while helping your community, is a good way to get to know people!

Then at about 10:00 am, we put the tools away, congratulate each other on a job well done, and go about our day. Some of us (the lucky ones) walk up to the falls and jump in for a cooling swim, followed by lunch at the Wahi Aina Grill. All in all, it is a very rewarding time, for Waimea Valley, for the Torch Ginger Alley, but, perhaps most of all, for those of us who have the opportunity to give back to a magical place that has given us so much beauty.

Whether you are a member or not, please consider joining us. Many hands make light work. Our next workday is scheduled on Monday, November 29, 2021. If you are interested please contact our Events Coordinator, Kerry Germain at cooperk001@icloud.com. More information on the valley can be found here: Waimea Valley.

Vera Stone, President, North Shore Branch
For more information about the North Shore Outdoor Circle, please check their website at: North Shore Outdoor Circle.