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 One of the great traditions of rural America is that of barn raising, where members of a rural community would get together and, by working as a team, build a barn in a single day. By volunteering a portion of their time, community members could finish, in less than 24 hours, what otherwise could take over a month. Of course, barn raisings are pretty rare these days, but as APS Community Relations Representative Michelle Lehman can attest, the concept still works. Rather than building a barn, Lehman and other volunteers recently got together to install lighting and a scoreboard for a baseball field at Coyote Hills Elementary School in Peoria. The installation was the second in a series of five installations jointly planned by APS and the City of Peoria. According to Lehman, the project was a great example of what a group of individuals can do when they work together as a team. "Even though a lot of prep work had already been accomplished before we arrived, when I looked around at all the work that still had to be done, I thought, ‘there’s no way," said Lehman. "We had set a goal of finishing around lunchtime, but there was so much work to do, it looked impossible. So, it was very exciting when lunch ended and (APS Vice President of Customer Service) Jan Bennett flipped the switch to turn on the lights." On a larger scale, the installation also showed the value of community/business partnerships like the one created by Peoria and APS. By working together, APS and the City of Peoria were able to complete the projects at about half the initial projected cost. APS provided engineering, project management, volunteer labor, and donated the scoreboard, while Peoria paid for all the remaining materials and any outside contract work. According to APS Customer Relations Consultant Pamela Buol, the key to the success of the project was the turnout of volunteers. "We lined up skilled volunteers laborers from the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers)," said Buol. "We also had eager APS employees and members from the Coyote Hills Parent/Teacher/Student Organization." "It was an exciting day and a great project," added Buol. "This multi-use field can be used for baseball, softball, football and soccer. It should get used year round. The project will definitely benefit children and families. It was a beautiful day." | ||