Ten Weeks To Go!
May. 16th, 2011 12:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayfurrIn just ten short weeks, I get to be Garbage Collector to the WORLD!
Well, okay, no. Not the world. Just the route of the 2011 Boston Susan G. Komen 3-Day For The Cure. I signed up to be a member of the Route Clean-Up crew -- a two-person crew that drives a 24' truck along the route each day picking up the garbage from the various pit stops along the route. I am not expected to stop along the way and pick up every pink feather and every discarded water bottle I spot along the street, but I am expected to go to each pit stop and haul away bag after bag of discarded snack wrappers, banana peels, orange peels, and the like. And I'll be hauling away all the dozens of emptied water jugs the crew at each pit stop used to keep the walkers hydrated. To say nothing of all the emptied bags of ice used to keep the walkers cool. (No, we don't fill a big kiddie pool with ice for the walkers to loll around in. They get it in their water bottles, provided they bring wide-mouth water bottles that will actually let ice in.) It's not exactly the worst garbage in the world, and the pit crew will try to have all the bags neatly tied off when we arrive to pick the trash up, but okay, yes, it is garbage.
I volunteered for it because someone has to do it. And it seems like a nice, straightforward, uncomplicated job. The only part that might be a bit frustrating will be the navigating of a big truck through Boston traffic, but slow and steady will get me there. Typically, I'll be driving about three miles at a time and then stopping to load up again. Since the pit stops along the route have staggered start and finish times (timed to match when the walkers are on that section of the route), there will be periods where I'm loaded up with garbage but don't have to be at the next pit stop for 45 minutes, so I'll hang around and help break down the pit stop I'm at and help get them loaded up before moving on.
Interestingly, I'm going to be captain of the crew -- which means I get a radio and have to call in to let the staff know how things are going, supervise the members of my crew, and be cheerful, encouraging, and supportive. Some crew captains have a lot of people on their crew teams: lunch or camp services are fairly sizeable, with a couple of dozen members. In the weeks before the actual event, the crew captains call or email all their crew members, try to build up team spirit, answer questions, and try to have everyone ready for the big weekend. My work in that regard isn't so complicated: I have one person on my team beside myself and I can have a team meeting any time I want: my team member is my wife, Carole. She's not an early riser and we figured that the Route Clean-Up Crew would be good for her because that crew is last out of camp each day; there's really not much work to do until Pit 1 closes in mid-morning.
Carole and I just got word that travel information for the Boston 3-Day has been published -- meaning that details of the host hotels for the night before the event and the location of the opening and closing ceremonies have been posted. We immediately made a reservation at the crew hotel, the Crowne Plaza in Framingham, Massachusetts. (No one has to stay in the official 'host' hotels, but that's where the shuttles to opening ceremonies leave from. Walkers can also leave cars at long-term parking, near opening ceremonies, or simply have a friend or family member drop them off.)
It's always a big momentous date when word goes out that "TRAVEL INFO FOR BOSTON HAS BEEN PUBLISHED!" It means the event is just around the corner, so to speak. Walkers know that the time has come to really step up their fundraising and training and the crew know that they'll be doing a lot of planning for the event. I've got a conference call, for example, tomorrow night -- not with my crew, but with the Route Clean-Up Captains of four or five other 3-Day cities that are also holding walks this summer. We'll exchange ideas, thoughts, get questions answered, and so on. Perhaps we'll even learn some perky, cheerful garbage collecting songs!
Well, okay, no. Not the world. Just the route of the 2011 Boston Susan G. Komen 3-Day For The Cure. I signed up to be a member of the Route Clean-Up crew -- a two-person crew that drives a 24' truck along the route each day picking up the garbage from the various pit stops along the route. I am not expected to stop along the way and pick up every pink feather and every discarded water bottle I spot along the street, but I am expected to go to each pit stop and haul away bag after bag of discarded snack wrappers, banana peels, orange peels, and the like. And I'll be hauling away all the dozens of emptied water jugs the crew at each pit stop used to keep the walkers hydrated. To say nothing of all the emptied bags of ice used to keep the walkers cool. (No, we don't fill a big kiddie pool with ice for the walkers to loll around in. They get it in their water bottles, provided they bring wide-mouth water bottles that will actually let ice in.) It's not exactly the worst garbage in the world, and the pit crew will try to have all the bags neatly tied off when we arrive to pick the trash up, but okay, yes, it is garbage.
I volunteered for it because someone has to do it. And it seems like a nice, straightforward, uncomplicated job. The only part that might be a bit frustrating will be the navigating of a big truck through Boston traffic, but slow and steady will get me there. Typically, I'll be driving about three miles at a time and then stopping to load up again. Since the pit stops along the route have staggered start and finish times (timed to match when the walkers are on that section of the route), there will be periods where I'm loaded up with garbage but don't have to be at the next pit stop for 45 minutes, so I'll hang around and help break down the pit stop I'm at and help get them loaded up before moving on.
Interestingly, I'm going to be captain of the crew -- which means I get a radio and have to call in to let the staff know how things are going, supervise the members of my crew, and be cheerful, encouraging, and supportive. Some crew captains have a lot of people on their crew teams: lunch or camp services are fairly sizeable, with a couple of dozen members. In the weeks before the actual event, the crew captains call or email all their crew members, try to build up team spirit, answer questions, and try to have everyone ready for the big weekend. My work in that regard isn't so complicated: I have one person on my team beside myself and I can have a team meeting any time I want: my team member is my wife, Carole. She's not an early riser and we figured that the Route Clean-Up Crew would be good for her because that crew is last out of camp each day; there's really not much work to do until Pit 1 closes in mid-morning.
Carole and I just got word that travel information for the Boston 3-Day has been published -- meaning that details of the host hotels for the night before the event and the location of the opening and closing ceremonies have been posted. We immediately made a reservation at the crew hotel, the Crowne Plaza in Framingham, Massachusetts. (No one has to stay in the official 'host' hotels, but that's where the shuttles to opening ceremonies leave from. Walkers can also leave cars at long-term parking, near opening ceremonies, or simply have a friend or family member drop them off.)
It's always a big momentous date when word goes out that "TRAVEL INFO FOR BOSTON HAS BEEN PUBLISHED!" It means the event is just around the corner, so to speak. Walkers know that the time has come to really step up their fundraising and training and the crew know that they'll be doing a lot of planning for the event. I've got a conference call, for example, tomorrow night -- not with my crew, but with the Route Clean-Up Captains of four or five other 3-Day cities that are also holding walks this summer. We'll exchange ideas, thoughts, get questions answered, and so on. Perhaps we'll even learn some perky, cheerful garbage collecting songs!
