Get out and help

Friday, December 11, 2009

Well, here’s something the entire family can do and it won’t cost a cent: On Saturday at 10 a.m., go down to the Brookline town ball field on Milford Road and help to build the town’s skating rink. It began last year, and if you didn’t get involved then, well, there’s no time like the present (or future, since it’s next Saturday.) Volunteers, both skaters and spectators, are invited to assist in assembling the rink, which will be available for skating during the winter.

Here are some details as provided by our Hattie Bernstein: The day’s work will include the placing of a warming shed that was constructed and donated by two local contractors.

And skaters will have a chance to pick up skates during a “Recession-Buster Skate Swap” that runs from 9:30-11 a.m. on the same day at the ball park.

It’s unlikely that skaters in need of skates will find a better bargain, since the skates are free.

Selectman Tad Putney, who spearheaded the drive last year to fund and construct the community ice rink, has set up a box for donated skates and a sign outside his family’s home at 8 Milford St., across the street from the ball field.

Skates will be arranged by size, and anyone who picks up a pair may leave a voluntary donation. Putney said all monetary donations will go directly to the rink.

This is the very definition of “community”: people getting involved to do something that will benefit everyone by donating their time and their labor. It’s the kind of thing we don’t see often enough anymore.

And with all the kvetching about obesity in children, the rink can help in two ways: kids can come out and help to build it, then they can use it. It’s exercise, and we all remember exercise, don’t we? Perhaps not fondly, but we remember it, and, like some medicine, it’s actually good for us, even if it takes effort.

So come on down next Saturday. Bring a positive, let’s-have-fun attitude, bring the kids, bring some hot chocolate and pitch in.