The Friday Letter | April 24, 2015

The

TREE STATISTICS The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

The 2015 Bark in the Park Top Dog Festival presented by Purina and Harris Teeter will take place Saturday, April 25, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., at Historic Rural Hill in Huntersville.

Bring your pooch and enjoy a funfilled day of contests, vendors , food and much more!

Trees can boost the market value of your home by an average of 6 or 7 percent.

- Dr. Lowell Ponte

National Arbor Day is celebrated each year on the last Friday in April. Arbor Day is a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees. Originating in Nebraska City, Nebraska, by J. Sterling Morton, the first Arbor day was held on April 10, 1872. On this day in 1872, over a million trees were planted in Nebraska. Today, National Arbor Day is celebrated in all 50 states.

Celebrate National Arbor Day by planting a tree today and share it using #NationalArborDay on Social Media.

There are about 60–200 million spaces along our city streets where trees could be planted. This translates to the potential to absorb 33 million more tons of CO2 every year and saving $4 billion in energy costs.

-National Wildlife Federation Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20–50 percent in energy used for heating.

-USDA Forest Service

Mecklenburg County News Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation is making sure that every child can swim by the 5th grade.

Through a partnership with Second Ward High School National Alumni Foundation, the department will continue its free swim lessons program for youth, ages 3-12, at Ray’s Splash Planet, 215 N. Sycamore Street in uptown Charlotte.

Swim lessons are offered in monthly sessions and take place on Saturday mornings.

For a child to participate, he or she must attend a pre-registration event with a parent or guardian at Ray’s Splash Planet. Each registration session begins at 5:30 p.m.

Upcoming sessions:

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April 28: Lessons take place on May 2, 9, 16 and 23 Applications will not be accepted after 6:30 p.m. on the day of registration. If applications exceed the number of available spots, a public lottery will be conducted.

For more information, visit www.parkandrec.com and click on the Ray's Splash Planet Web page.

Mecklenburg County News

‘Get Involved and Get Green’ for the Great American Cleanup Each spring, Mecklenburg County participates in the Great American Cleanup, a national movement that stresses environmental awareness through community-organized beautification projects.

Locally, thousands of volunteers work to clean and beautify parks, greenways, creeks and other areas throughout the County. You can view a schedule of upcoming events at www.wipeoutwaste.com.

Aquatics

18th Annual Rodney’s Great Kids Triathlon: Sixty (60) kids participated in the 18th Annual Rodney’s Great Kids Triathlon on Saturday April 18 from 8:30am – 10:30am. The children swam in the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center Pool to start the first leg of the event. The Bike and Run portion took place around beautiful Marshall Park. The triathlon is named after Rodney Sellars who has been with the Aquatic Center for 24 years, and was the Mecklenburg County Employee of the Year in 2007.

Nature Preserves & Natural Resources Medicinal Wheel Garden at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve: Last week staff and volunteers at Reedy Creek Nature Center planted the two beds that make the new medicinal wheel garden outside the Nature Center. This garden beds display some plants that people have been using for centuries for their therapeutic uses. The next and last step of the project will be to add an interpretive sign to visitors to enjoy.

Community & Recreation Center Services

Sugaw Creek Recreation Center Baseball Trip On Friday, April 17,youth baseball participants at Sugaw Creek Recreation Center attended the UNC Charlotte vs. Middle Tennessee State Baseball game held at Robert & Mariam Hayes Stadium on the campus of UNC Charlotte. Sugaw Creek Recreation Center staff would like to thank UNCC Athletics for their continued support of the Mecklenburg County Youth Baseball Programs.

For more information contact; SugawCreekRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or call 704-336-7655.

Berewick Recreation Center- Berewick Recreation Karate Chop the Community The community has embraced Karate at Berewick. The families and the children have enjoyed the Karate classes which continue to have high participation at Berewick Recreation Center.

The children enjoy learning basic kicks, punches and stands which helps to improve self-esteem and self -discipline. Karate is offered on Saturdays, 11:00am-1:00pm.

For more information, contact center staff at 704-432-4934.

Community & Recreation Center Services Methodist Home Recreation Center - Urban Outdoor Connection Night Kayak Trip Mecklenburg County’s Urban Outdoor Connection (UOC) hosted a night kayak trip for the MeckTeen program. The UOC is an outreach initiative that the Nature Preserves and Natural Resources division have been working on for a few years. UOC has 4 main programs; Summer camps, After School outdoor clubs, Urban outdoor classrooms, and MeckTeen programming. The MeckTeens, ranging from ages 11-17, volunteer their time for various workdays and in return get to attend trips and ventures. The Kayak Trip was held at McDowell Nature Preserve and the teens had the opportunity to kayak on Lake Wylie. The next MeckTeen venture is Friday, May 1, at Southview Recreation Center, 5:3010:00pm. The participants will enjoy a night hike on the trails behind the recreation center located on Vilma Street. Some upcoming volunteer opportunities for the teens are: April 23 and May 21, 6:00-7:30pm at Arbor Glen Outreach Center and May 16, 9:00am-5:00pm at Latta Plantation Park. For more information or to register for an event/volunteer day, email Anthony.Shaheen@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Kelly.Hawkins@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Olema.Edwards@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Abby.Fowler@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Donnie.Shell@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Nikole.Rampersad@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, or John.Hanson@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Community & Recreation Center Services Tom Sykes Recreation Center –Start Smart: Lacrosse The Lacrosse program is designed to teach the basics of Lacrosse using targets, drills and stations in rotation to challenge each skill that is trying to be achieved.

Each week the exercises become more difficult as the class progresses and the children show improvement with passing, catching, cradling and agility. The sessions were held once a week for six weeks by instructors, Recreation Specialist, Tasha Owens, CPRP, and Recreation Assistant, Michael Sullivan. This program will be featured in a special NAYS Magazine Edition.

For more information contact; TomSykesRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or (704) 432-4803.

Community & Recreation Center Services Tom Sykes Recreation Center –After School: Art Adventures It’s spring time and Tom Sykes is ready for all the April showers! The kids had a blast using their creative minds to design their own umbrella hats and beanie bugs to celebrate the spring season. They had an even better time trying them on and pretending to dance in the rain. For more information contact; TomSykesRecreationCenter@Mecklenburgcountync.gov or (704) 432-4803.

Community & Recreation Center Services

Naomi Drenan Recreation Center/Grayson Skate Park - GSP Parks and Community Build Project It’s not too late to participate in the GSP Parks and Community Build Project!!! This Earth Month, the National Recreation and Park Association, Disney | ABC Television Group and ESPN are collaborating to revitalize parks across the U.S. including a park right here in Mecklenburg County. Through Parks Build Community — an initiative that gives back to these places that shape so much of our lives — one of three of our local parks will receive a $20,000 grant and residents get to choose which one. Here is where you can help! Grayson Skate Park is in the running and we need you to be a part of this fantastic opportunity by voting! In order for us to win the $20,000 grant money, go to http://www.parksbuildcommunity.org/ every day from now until April 30th to vote for Grayson Skatepark. Don’t forget, YOU can vote every day! Please pass the word around and let’s work towards enhancing our skate park and keeping our young skateboarders in a safe location. Help spread the word to our community and don’t forget to vote! For more information, contact NaomiDrenanRecreationCenter@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov or call 704.432.5231.

Community & Recreation Center Services

Community & Recreation Center Services LeadHERship Conference 2015 On April 15-17, NCSU Recreation Resource Services and the Town of Cary hosted the Fifth Annual LeadHERship Conference. Recreation Specialists Tahara Epps, Tasha Owns, and Abby Fowler, along with Recreation Coordinator Kimberly Golden and Environmental Educator Anne-Marie Stevenson, all attended representing Mecklenburg County. Session topics included “Chartering Your Own Course” and “Traveling Your Path to Leadership” One of the attendees’ favorites, “Managing Transition: How to Effectively Lead and Live During Change” was presented by Deputy City Manager of Virginia Beach, Cindy Curtis. Thursday included more speakers followed by speed sessions that covered Professionalism, Critical Conversations, and Negotiation. It was a great experience for staff from such diverse areas of our department to get to know one another and learn an immense amount about being a leader in our field. For more information on this conference, visit https://rrs.cnr.ncsu.edu/Leadership.html

Community & Recreation Center Services Bette Rae Bunny Hop The Seniors decorated white plastic eggs with Easter goodies that were put inside of them by the Easter Bunny. The eggs were hidden by the Park & Rec staff of BRT and Senior Nutrition for our Annual Easter Egg Hunt with the Seniors.

The Seniors also played Easter Bunny Bingo with healthy Easter treat bags that consisted of banana’s, nutri-grain bars, crackers, mints/candy, nuts, raisins and more. The Seniors also played musical chairs with the bunny ears and bunny covered chairs to the Bunny Hop.

Eggstravaganza Bette Rae Thomas had their annual Easter Eggtravaganza event. The children enjoyed taking pictures with the Easter Bunny, making Easter crafts, showing off their balancing skills during the egg relays, as well as searching for all the eggs. We had three winners find the golden eggs for a special reward! For more information, please contact us at BetteRaeThomasRecreationCenter@Mecklenburg.CountyNC.gov or 704.432.3048.

Community & Recreation Center Services

Teen Night Club This week at Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center we had our first Teen Night club meeting! The teens that attended had a great time playing “hot balloon” ice breaker activity. We spoke about the end of the school year coming up and their plans for the summer, they are planning to come back for some of our summer teen camp activities. Quite a few of them stated that had a great time and couldn’t for next Tuesday. For more information please contact us at BetteRaeThomasRecreationCenter@mecklenburgcountync.gov or call us at 704-432-3048

Community & Recreation Center Services

Spring Break ‘Fit’ Camp at Mallard Creek: During CMS Spring Break, Mallard Creek Recreation Center held its annual Spring Break ‘Fit’ Camp. Twelve lively CMS students participated in active programming all week. Each day had a specific topic to encompass fitness, nutrition, and healthy lifestyles. Staff worked to educate participants on total health, playing games such as MyPlate Bingo, touring the fitness center and instructing on proper use, and creating crafts to make their very own aprons and eye masks. The participants had a blast playing and learning about how to be more aware of their well-being! They especially loved the trips to the farmers market and Carowinds. For more information contact MallardCreekRecreationCenter@Mecklenburgcountync.gov or call 704-548-8234.

CIAA Tennis Championships: Park and Rec and Johnson C. Smith University hosted the 2015 CIAA Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championship at Hornets Nest Park on Thursday, April 16 – Saturday April 18, with schools throughout North Carolina and Virginia participating.

Despite the rain each day, the organization was able to complete the tournament by late Saturday evening. The competition was fierce with one of the women’s singles championship matches lasting just over 4 1/2 hours.

Shaw University in Raleigh took the title for the Men’s and Women’s Championship and will be advancing to the 2015 NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournaments. For more information on upcoming tennis events contact Preston.Buckman@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov.

John Kelley has been with Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation for 10 years. He was recently promoted to Recreation Coordinator/Supervisor for Youth Sports and Fitness. John’s mission is to be committed to providing an exceptional education, fitness, and sports performance program in order to promote wellness to the community. He strives to promote activities to transform the lives he serve. John is an Alumni of East Carolina University, “Argh” and has a Master’s Degree in Exercise and Sport Science. Mr. Kelley has obtained three national certifications in three different areas of exercise science. During his years with Park and Recreation, he has been blessed to work with so many great people. “It would be a long list to name, but in short, my current heroes are the following: “The Man” Daly, Wonder Twins Brendan & Carla, “The Caub” LBC, "The Legend" A Carter , and Boss Boss Lady” says John.

Have you seen Superman and myself in the same room?…..just saying.

- John Kelley

Fun facts: Grew up in four different cultures Have a great wife and 2 mini me’s Member of the Justice League Appreciate the Martial Arts Enjoy participating in fitness activities Like long walks on the beach Try to relax by drawing stuff Enjoy learning new things Can eat a lot of cheese pizza (did I say the healthy kind?!?)

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 Richard . McNeill @MecklenburgCountyNC.gov for publication assistance.

The Friday Letter Volume 3 • Issue 64 • April 24, 2015

CHARMECK ALERTS The CharMeck Alerts Notification System relays accurate and timely emergency notifications. You control how you’re contacted— whether it’s on your cell, work or home phone, via text, email or voice message. You can receive up-to-the-minute notifications about events and emergencies that may affect your home, workplace or other points of interest—anywhere in Mecklenburg County. Sign up here or call CharMeck 311. To receive CDOT-specific alerts, you must sign up for that item in the list.

Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Senior Leadership Team Jim Garges, Director Michael Kirschman, Deputy Director James Alsop, Enterprise Services Renea Barber, Human Resources Mario Chang, Budget Administration Lee Jones, Capital Planning Terri Stowers, Community and Recreation Center Services Jeff Robinson, Park Operations Chris Matthews, Nature Preserves and Natural Resources