Give 5: Cuyahoga Valley National Park

One of the things Patch.com does as a company is make sure that every Patch editor devotes five days each year to a charity in the area in which they work -- our Patch, as it were. The program is called Give 5. Patch also gives 5 percent of its advertising space, free of charge, to local charities from the communities we serve. (Please contact us to see if you qualify.)

On Saturday I joined Patch Editors Rachel Abbey McCafferty Lindsay McCoy, (Brecksville Patch and Cuyahoga Falls Patch, respectively) and about three dozen volunteers at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to take part in the Adopt-A-Trail Program at the Oak Hill Trailhead. We spent the morning and most of the afternoon taking in the breathtaking scenery of Plateau and Oak Hill trails, picking up (remarkably little) trash, trimming back wild roses, dead branches and avoiding poison ivy while members of the Cuyahoga Valley Trails Council did heavier work like clearing culverts along the trails and redirecting storm runoff. 

In our group were engineers, firemen, a retired army officer, a customer service representative, writers, an accountant, a psychologist all of whom donated their time off. 

Virtually everyone who came by to help also hikes the trails on a regular basis. "The park doesn't have the staff it used to said, Mike Brittain, a volunteer who helps lead the groups and supervise the work. "It's a great way to give something back to the park."

Trail leader Dave Burgan is chairman of the Adopt-a-trail committee. His secret weapon is his wife's wonderful cookies, which get passed around at the end of the day. "It's amazing how much work you can get from people for chocolate chips," Burgan said.

Adopt-a-trail groups are in the parks on a weekly basis doing whatever needs to be done.  Contact the CVNP web site and the trails council to see how you can help.