Have you ever been involved in leading a large community project?

I started an annual river cleanup event in my town. This year will be the 4th year and it grows in size and scope every year. 30 volunteers the first year, this year will be 100+ easy and shooting for 6 miles of shoreline.

I ran the San Diego office for a petition drive to protect California mountain lions. It got on the ballot and passed, in 1990. I ran another local campaign to protect the initiative from another initiative that would have invalidated it, in 1996. Again, we succeeded, and the mountain lions are still safe :>)

Everything I’ve done is because I’ve really been blessed. Great friends and people I’ve met in this world have given me some wonderul opportunities. I’m thankful. I was co-chair on two Habitat for Humanity homes. It was a great emount of work, but even bigger rewards. I spearheaded a volunteer community project to build a playground. I raised money to send three residents at a nursing home to Disney and actually got enough for the trip and new outddoor Christmas lights for the nursing home. I worked for years with a group that gave free and reduced lunches Christmas gifts anonymously.The most bittersweet project involved setting up a non-profit organization to assist with families expenses when their children have neuroblastoma. I actually had to bail after two years because it I was having a very tough emotional time in my life. I feel bad about it to this day. The fund is still there thanks to some amazing people. @Cruiser and @crisw keep up the good work guys. It makes me feel good to know there are good folks like you two in my world. :)

I haven’t, but I have a very close friend who was. She, through very hard work, won $250k to improve a local public school, to build onto it. The school board tried to become very annoying with their ideas and what should be done, and other parents said obnoxious things about how the money was being spent. At one point, she pushed back and told them to shut the hell up (not in those words) that it was her donation, and the people donated for the specific room she was building. She also hit some crazy permitting problems/requirements from the city which slowed her down a little, because of an ordinance that was changed just a few months before she had started the endeavor. She had the room built In less than a year start to finish, from drawing up the plans.

Yes, I led a major effort to have a new off-leash dog park started. It resulted in a 30-acre dog park in Washington State.

Not to toot my own horn, but I happen to be president of the board of directors of my local community theater non-profit organization. Our biggest project last year was sheer physical labor to prepare, install and then fill 2 shipping containers with set pieces, costumes, and stage props. It saw the labor of over 30 volunteers doing everything from shoveling to operating a backhoe machine to sorting old costumes that had been in boxes for years.

Our biggest ongoing endeavor is our Annual Shakespeare in the Park. This year marks the 34th year for this continuing effort. Believe you me, it is not a simple task to obtain all the permits, build a stage in a park, rehearse, make costumes, run the lighting and sound equipment. It again requires coordinating dozens of volunteers.

And there are the endless drives for contributions. We’re constantly seeking funding sources and other types of contributions. It’s eternal.

I do it all for the love of bringing theater to our community, especially to the children. Watching their faces light up when colorful costumes parade around the room or when a story is particularly well told makes all the headache worthwhile.