M
any of us may have moved away from
our original hometowns. We may be a
state away, on the other side of the country or
maybe even in a different country than where
we were born. Wherever we are, however, it's
difficult to forget our roots.
Who remembers the neighborhood in
which you were raised, or the local park you
used to visit with friends? No matter how much
those old, familiar places have changed, they'll
always have a special place in your heart.
In the words from one Davey employee,
who had the chance to revitalize a park he
used to visit often as a child: "I feel like I have
completed the circle, in a way."
R.J. Laverne, the Davey Institute's manager
of education and training, visited Belle Isle
Park, located in Detroit, Michigan, in July to
volunteer his expertise and time to help make
the park as wonderful as what he remembers.
Laverne gathered Mike Iatzko, production
manager for Davey's Detroit Southwest CLS
branch, and Timon Alongi, landscape foreman
for Davey's Northeast Detroit R/C office, to
start Belle Isle Park's cleanup. Nine students
from The Youth Connection, a program to
help prepare young, inner-city adults for a
professional life, joined Davey in the cleanup
efforts as well. Not only did Davey donate
Rooted In the Community
Students from inner-city Detroit learned
the proper way to prune hedges in
front of the Belle Isle Conservatory.
November/December 2014 | 11
landscape services, but crewmembers also
used this opportunity as a mentoring project
with The Youth Connection students.
Prior to the revitalization at the park,
Laverne spent two days training the students.
The students learned safety measures, the
proper way to handle the tools they would be
using, botany topics, the benefits of green spaces
and pruning techniques. To demonstrate their
new knowledge, the students pruned rows of
hedges in front of the Belle Isle Conservatory.
"I wanted them to learn about this because
I wanted them to realize that this was an
important project that is allowing them to
better the city they live in," Laverne explains.
The park makeover took five days in July
to complete. As Laverne says, he had a deep,
personal connection with this project because
he got to revisit his roots.
The Belle Isle Park will now be a safe,
beautiful place for families and children to enjoy,
just like Laverne did when he was part of the
Detroit community. "I was able to give back
to the place I grew up by the profession of my
choice," Laverne says.
R.J. Laverne (far left) stands with Timon Alongi (center), Mike Iatzko (right of center) and
nine students from The Youth Connection program to revitalize Detroit's Belle Isle Park.
