5/15/21
When we pulled up to Coburn Place, a women and children’s shelter for victims of domestic abuse and violence, we knew to look for the tall black gate separating the parking lot from the road. As it is a safe haven for victims of domestic violence, we had to be buzzed into the property.
Coburn Place is a plain, simple red brick building surrounded by old, rundown houses. There is a playground and a basketball court, which is where we volunteered for the STEM Fair. You can check out that blog post here. The side that we entered on was a quiet neighborhood street. When we got into the building we waited for a little while before the volunteer coordinator came. Looking around the lobby, we could see many different pieces of artwork that were most likely done by the children living there. There were paintings of boats, trees and people.
When the volunteer coordinator showed up, she greeted us cheerfully before leading us to the back of building where the shed was. It was a small wood structure that housed all their tools for gardening and yard work. Next to it was a towering pile of mulch, which we would be using.
First we went into the shed to gather all our tools. It was dark, dusty and a little cramped. The shed only had three walls, so one side was open air. We grabbed a couple shovels and rakes as well as a wheelbarrow from the shed. We brought it over the the pile of mulch so that we could start transferring the mulch in. The mulch had a strong earthy smell. As we dug into the pile, there were sometimes worms and other bugs that we could see.
After that, it was time to start mulching. There was a ledge we had to lift our wheelbarrows over to get to our first area, which was the patch around the large sign that said Coburn Place on it. There were many small plants surrounding the sign, which was stone on top of a brick base. The mulch that was already there was dry and pale. Once we were done, it looked a lot more alive.
Our next area was next to the building, which was pretty quick. There was a patch of open mulch followed by dense bushes along the brick wall that was the outside of the building. We finished that spot pretty quickly.
Then it was time to work on the sidewalk. This side of the building was much different from the back. The road was very busy, and we could hear the cars whooshing past as we worked. It was a little difficult since we could only maneuver the mulch from one side, due to the fact that it was directly next to a very busy street.
Once we finished mulching the small rectangles of mulch embedded into the sidewalk, we still had some time left in our volunteering shift. We didn’t want to leave early, so we looked around for something else to help out with. We noticed that the sidewalk was covered in dirt and also that there was a lot of trash. First we worked on picking up the trash before dealing with the dirt. Most of the dirt had been on there for so long, it came up as a sheet of mud. We gathered the dirt in piles and put it into bags to throw away.
When we stepped back and saw how clean the sidewalk was, it felt really good to know that we had helped out with more than what we had originally planned. Overall, volunteering at Coburn Place was a very pleasant experience and it was nice to know that we were helping out however we could.
