The Friday Letter | July 11, 2014

The

Party in the Park Wednesday Nights 5:30-9:00 pm

Music Box Lunch Series Tuesdays & Fridays 12:00-1:30 pm

Bearden Music Series Saturday, July 26 Soul/Beach Music Saturday, September 20 CajunFest Live music starts at 3:30

ATTENTION: eParks 2.0 IS HERE To improve customer service and efficiency, Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation has installed a new system for registrations, memberships and reservations.

Active Net and eParks 2.0 launched on July 2, 2014. Numerous staff have worked for the past 18 months to make this transition as smooth as possible. But as with any change, there will be a few bumps along the way. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience and we work through the issues to ensure your experience and the customer experience is a pleasant one.

Park and Recreation has added additional Administrative Support to give more detailed assistance. The new contact information is listed below.

North Park Region – Hornet’s Nest Park 704.336.886 NorthParkRegion@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov Central Park Region – Freedom Park 704.432.4280 CentralParkRegion@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov South Park Region – Park Road Park 704.643.3405 SouthParkRegion@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov Administrative Office Building 980-314-1000

Aquatics Queen City Dolphins The Greater Charlotte Swim League hosted six division Summer championship swim meets this past week. 2107 kids participated in the swim meets. Swim Meets took place from Saturday, July 5 through Tuesday, July 8. The Greater Charlotte Swim League is a member group of pools in the Charlotte area that provides summer swimming competition. The top two performers in each event from their local pool competed in the championship.

Cooperative Extension

4-H Robotics Workshops Held Mecklenburg County 4-H and North Carolina A & T State University keep up the Summer Fun excitement with Robotics workshops. Youth leaders from Mecklenburg County applied to participate in a week-long leadership experience. Part of this leadership training included the participants leading workshops with youth here in Mecklenburg County. Three Mecklenburg County teens participated in this leadership experience and led two workshops reaching approximately 40 youth! In the two day workshop, the teens helped younger youth learn about building and programming robots. By the end of the sessions, teams of participating youth had built Sumo Bots that were able to follow their programming to fight each other.

Cooperative Extension Cooperative Extension Celebrates Centennial Mecklenburg Cooperative Extension recently celebrated the 100th Anniversary of Cooperative Extension in the United States with a reception at the Armory Building. Guests enjoyed food, fellowship, and memories. Four-H’ers provided entertainment by performing an original play for the group.

Across the country, 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of Cooperative Extension programs. Extension’s centennial is linked to the federal Smith-Lever Act, signed by Woodrow Wilson on May 8, 1914, that provided funds for the organization of Cooperative Extension at county, state, and federal levels.

Today, Cooperative Extension programs are based in all the state’s 100 counties and on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. These programs draw on research-based knowledge from the state’s land-grant universities — N.C. State University and N.C. A&T State University– to provide education to citizens.

Throughout the past 100 years and earlier, Extension has helped farmers overcome pests like the boll weevil and learn ways to increase crop yields, educated rural families and helped bring electricity to the state, assisted during times of war and disaster, helped families to provide safe, healthy meals, and encouraged youth to develop skills that made them better citizens.

Today, Cooperative Extension continues this important role, serving communities and families, supporting agriculture and households, and empowering youth to be leaders. To help tell that story, NC Cooperative Extension has developed a centennial website.

Visit ncce100years.ces.ncsu.edu to see a timeline of Extension milestones, historic photos, examples of Extension programs “Then and Now,” the history of the Smith-Lever Act, and much more.

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Nature Preserves and Natural Resources McDowell Nature Center My name is Matthew ‘Mac’ McGarity and I am a REC Mentee at McDowell Nature Center. I really enjoy my job! Today, I had a great time shadowing staff in Natural Resources. I learned a lot about nature, trails, animals, and the ecosystem and how it works. It gave me a chance to broaden my horizon and help me understand why management practices are important in helping keep the prairie clean and natural. I also learned a lot about how you can use nature to your advantage. For example the prescribed burns, to keep the fields from turning into a wooded area. Another example and/or alternative to using fire is to use goats which is what they are looking into in the near future. Goats could keep the prairie clean during the summer when burning is not an option. I’m looking forward to shadowing other areas within the Division and learning more!

Reedy Creek Nature Center Last weekend families came out to Reedy Creek Nature Center to experience camping for the first time. The group went fishing, roasted marshmallows and enjoy the trails on a few hikes. Kids and adults learned how to pitch a tent and the basics of camping. By the time they left on Sunday morning everybody was ready for the next camping experience. Hopefully we will see them at the McDowell Campground very soon.

Athletics Adult Softball Men’s D-I, D-II, and Co-Rec Tuesday night leagues have finished their regular season. Men’s D-I had a total of 8 teams that participated in the league this season. Team Jager Bombers came through as the Champions in the end. D-II had a total of 8 team in the league this season and team Hogs were Champions. Co-Rec had a total of 8 teams in the league with team Centerfield winning it all. All Games were played at Renaissance Park on Tuesday nights. For More information on adult leagues please visit our website at www.parkandrec.com, or call us at 704-336-7639.

Adult Volleyball Men’s D-I, D-II, and Co-Rec Tuesday night leagues have finished their regular season. Men’s D-I had a total of 8 teams that participated in the league this season. Team Jager Bombers came through as the Champions in the end. D-II had a total of 8 team in the league this season and team Hogs were Champions. Co-Rec had a total of 8 teams in the league with team Centerfield winning it all. All Games were played at Renaissance Park on Tuesday nights. For More information on adult leagues please visit our website at www.parkandrec.com, or call us at 704-336-7639.

Therapeutic Recreation Services Therapeutic Recreation Experience Camp Therapeutic Recreation Experience Camp (TREC), for teens 17-21 with disabilities, has had a great start to the summer. The group has enjoyed field trips to Lazy 5 Ranch, skating and fishing, swimming weekly, gardening, science experiments, creating a hip-hop dance, learning archery, working on cooking skills, and doing a lot of art projects, sports and games. Campers are having a blast with friends and look forward to more fun and adventure!

Community and Recreation Center Services Naomi Drenan Recreation Center: MeckTeens Summer Camp As the 4th week of Teen Camp at Naomi Drenan Recreation Center comes to end, campers are still going strong and happier than ever with all of the excitement of daily field trips, speakers, workshops, and more! These four weeks have been full of laughs, team building, and character building activities that will surely give the teens the opportunity to display their leadership skills and further their interest in gaining other skills that will ensure positive growth for years to come. For more information about our programs and events, contact NaomiDrenanRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or call us at 704.432.5231.

Community and Recreation Center Services Ivory Baker Recreation Center: First Harvest of Summer At the Ivory/Baker Recreation Center, the first round of harvesting of a few vegetables the Anita Stroud After School children had started this spring has begun. So far we picked radishes, green beans, squash, lettuce and a couple of peas. Those attending the Classy Creation Summer Camp were treated to try the lettuce, squash and radishes (with ranch dressing). The children scrupulously enjoyed eating the veggies, some never eaten squash or radishes before.

For more information about upcoming programs, contact IvoryBakerRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or 704-432-4580.

Do you know an exceptional Mecklenburg County employee?

Nominate him or her for an Above & Beyond @ Work Award.

Here is what they can win: An engraved award, a $500 cash award, and recognition at a Board of County Commissioners meeting.

You will receive four vacation hours if your nominee is chosen for an Above & Beyond @ Work Award.

Our team of peer judges will review your submission based on this criteria:  Job performance – employee consistently goes above and beyond what is required of his/her job.  Customer service – employee provides consistently exemplary customer service and displays racial, ethnic and cultural sensitivity at all times.  Models leadership – employee inspires others to succeed.  Dependability/reliability – employee must be in good standing with HR.  Innovation/initiative – employee finds solutions to problems and/or develops new processes or services to enhance customer service quality.  Behavior – employee is positive, dedicated and treats co-workers and customers with respect.

For a list of all of the rules and the nomination form, click here.

5841 Brookshire Blvd.

Charlotte, NC 28216 (704) 336-8840

Recreate All Year!

Subscribe to the Park and Recreation E-Newsletter to learn of new and exciting way sto continue recreating during the spring and summer months. Subscribe to the Park and Recreation E-Newsletter to stay up to date on activities that may be available to you.

www.parkandrec.com Please submit all news for the Friday Letter to your Division Director for review and routing.

Park Partners may contact The Friday Letter Team at Kier. Harrison @MecklenburgCountyNC.gov for publication assistance.

The Friday Letter Volume 3 • Issue 27 • July 11, 2014

ParkandRec.com Will Soon Have A New Look If you are looking for the latest information on recreation and fitness activities in Mecklenburg County, then www.parkandrec.com is your destination and pretty soon the site will have a brand-new look.

The Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department will unveil a website redesign which will make it easier than ever before to navigate through the site to discover all the things Park and Rec has to offer.

Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Senior Leadership Team

The biggest enhancement to the website will be the way visitors register for Park and Rec events and programs. You will find links for eParks 2.0, which is the department’s new online registration program. Using eParks, patrons will be able to get information about parks, picnic shelters, program, and special event offerings. Patrons will also be able to reserve campsites at McDowell Campground, register for fitness, nature, and special interest classes, reserve a picnic shelter and purchase or renew memberships at fitness and aquatic facilities.

Jim Garges, Director Michael Kirschman, Deputy Director James Alsop, Enterprise Services Renea Barber, Human Resources Mario Chang, Budget Administration Lee Jones, Capital Planning Lola Massad, Community and Recrea-

With over 200 parks, 70 miles of trails, 18 recreation centers and so much more, Park and Recreation truly offers something for everyone. So mark your calendars and get ready to discover all the ways you can recreate all year at www.parkandrec.com.

tion Center Services Jeff Robinson, Park Operations Chris Matthews, Nature Preserves and Natural Resources