The Citizen Blog

The fifth installment of the Bester Walking School Bus linked the Hagerstown Police Department with the children of Bester Elementary who walk to school. Officer Gerry Kendle and a team of seven officers spread out over four locations to greet students and join them on their journey.

As children arrived they were given two decorative flowers and given the task of attaching and writing a note on each to spread kindness: One for a local hero in their neighborhood who makes a difference in their life, and the other for someone at school who they appreciate. As they finished their efforts and were ready to begin their walk, they received a bottle of water and a healthy breakfast appetizer: assorted candy!

At the Frederick Manor stop, volunteer Teri Siefert enjoyed seeing kids get excited about the activity of paying it forward. “The first child to arrive at our corner was very hesitant to stop.  He had on a hoodie that covered nearly his entire face.  All I could tell is that he wore glasses.  I had fun asking him about “heroes” in his life.  We invited him to stay and walk to school with us.  As we walked to school he went on to tell me about boy scouts, near the end of the conversation I realized he had taken his hood off and I could completely see his face and observe facial expressions.  He was smiling!  I made a friend today.”

At Ringers Laundry, a small group of kids came together. The officer asked kids “who is someone you appreciate?”, and all the kids in attendance said “my parents”. One child said “my mom always cooks for me” and another said “my mom is always there for me.” On the journey to school, the officer would see kids walking alone and ask “hey do you want to walk with a police officer today?” Kids were excited to see the officer walking to school with other students and quickly joined, but they had lots of questions. “Why are you doing this?” The officer said, “I’m here to support you guys and make sure you are attending school every day.”

Kids also met near the Auto Spa and the Triple Coin Laundromat, both located on Baltimore St, and spent time getting to know their local officers and enjoying the time together on a chilly morning. At the Auto Spa meeting point kids asked the Officer to pose in pictures with their family, and at Triple Coin, one young student decided that he wanted to give his flower for a local hero to the police officer for being there today.

Bester Elementary’s Walking School Bus is a monthly parent-led effort focused on attendance, supported by community partners including the Bester Community of Hope. Interested in participating or have great ideas for a fun theme? Let us know at 240-513-6370 or by e-mail at connect@besterhope.org.  See you next month!

The fourth installment of the Bester Walking School Bus linked community organizations doing good work in the Bester district with children walking to school. Traveling from each of the four corners of the community, children and families met at either Partners in Pediatrics, Potomac Towers of the Hagerstown Housing Authority, Ladders to Leaders or Easter Seals. Upon arriving each child received beads and plastic instruments such as trumpets and kazoos to make music. Several kids at each station even received some fancy Mardi Gras masks and flair provided by Bester parent Elizabeth Alberding.

Originally rain was in the forecast, but the day turned out to be mild with blue skies considering normal February temperatures. Kids received a drink as well as cookies provided by Sheetz, and one student couldn’t contain her excitement, “Yay! Cookies!”

At the Partners in Pediatrics stop, AmeriCorps VISTA Rafi Hoq amplified zydeco music from his phone during their group’s walk down Memorial Boulevard. One youngster was curious, “What is Mardi Gras?” Bester parent Joy Franklin took the time and gave the explanation of the history of the holiday while other kids waved flags and played kazoos. Quite a few parents joined the walk at the Ladders to Leaders stop, a local organization focused on recovery support for families impacted by substance use. There were all sorts of connections and conversations including sports and Santa. You read that correctly, kids are already planning for Christmas!

At the Easter Seals stop, a mom dropped off her two kids to join the walk before she headed to work. On the way down Locust Street kids were dancing on the sidewalks and gave beads away to the crossing guards as well as people on their porch.  A large group of energized employees from the Hagerstown Housing Authority came together to join some students and parents on their walk to school. They used their plastic instruments to hum songs like “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Eye of the Tiger”, a memorable wake up call for residents on Baltimore Street.

At the school the groups all converged at the entrance with a joyous start to the day. After a walk with his granddaughter, a grandparent turned to a Bester Community of Hope staff with great sincerity and a handshake, “Hey, thanks so much for doing this.”

Bester Elementary’s Walking School Bus is a monthly parent-led effort focused on attendance, supported by community partners including the Bester Community of Hope. Interested in participating or have great ideas  for a fun theme? Let us know at 240-513-6370 or by e-mail at connect@besterhope.org. See you next month!

The third installment of the monthly walk to school effort linked local businesses in the Bester district with children walking to school on a chilly January morning. Traveling from each of the four corners of the community, children and families met at either Pope Tire, G & G grill, Startzman’s Hardware or the corner opposite of Advance Auto Body. Upon arriving each child received a bag of donut holes from the popular local business Krumpe’s Donuts as well as a pair of gloves from Bester Community of Hope.

During the walk, with temperatures just over 30 degrees, G & G grill brought the people eating donuts outside their location to have free hot chocolate inside the warm restaurant. The twenty people at Starzman’s huddled inside the store enjoying the heat and checking out all the cool trinkets and merchandise. The families meeting at Pope Tire traveled down Mulberry Street on their walk to school, one parent commented,” “She actually got up and got moving because she wanted to come here for donuts.  I’m usually pushing her out the door!” It wasn’t just the kids having fun, Janet who was a volunteer at the Advance Auto Body site, said, “I want to do this next month too!”

Bester Elementary’s Walking School Bus is an ongoing effort is a monthly parent-led effort focused on attendance, supported by community partners including the Bester Community of Hope. Interested in participating or have great ideas for a fun theme? Let us know at 240-513-6370 or by e-mail at connect@besterhope.org. See you next month!

On Saturday August 13th, the Lowe’s Home Improvement Store located on Shank Farm Road in Hagerstown partnered with Neighborhoods 1st of the City of Hagerstown and the Bester Community of Hope to beautify neighborhood spaces on a six block corridor of Locust Street. The story of the day was oppressive heat, with temperatures soaring in the high 90’s, a group of almost 40 volunteers worked throughout the day as the heat index climbed over 110. At least it didn’t rain! The story of the day wasn’t simply Lowe’s and their substantial investment of resources and volunteers, but it was also neighborhood residents and organizations such as Lifehouse Church, who found ways big and small to join the effort.

A couple ladies were so impressed that the volunteers kept working through the heat that they started grilling hamburgers and handing out drinks. When asked why, they responded, “I may not be able to physically help, but you guys are doing this for us so I’m doing this for you.” When it came to physical help, some of the younger guys helped load heavy bags of soil, and they even let us use the water supply from their homes for hard to reach power washing. People came out of their homes and helped organize planters and sweep up the street, it was a team effort.

The signature portion of the project that you can now see each time you drive down Locust Street are blue paw prints in newly painted crosswalks signifying the journey Bester Elementary students (Bears) travel on their way to school. It’s important as we drive through these communities that we remember kids and families live and play here, and as a walking school district everything we can do to support a great environment for those families to travel through will improve their daily life experience.

Other highlights included: Every home in the six block range of Locust Point to Antietam Street received high quality planters with soil and flowers for the front of their homes, pressure washing some highly visibly walls and a new coat of green paint on a long wall from the Locust point market past the storage facility, repairing a noticeably damaged fence, new lighting for the interior and exterior of Locust Point Market as well as planting trees behind the market for shade and additional plant life, trash pick up along the entire corridor, and significant enhancements to the Bester Elementary courtyard including furniture and painting. One other addition will come this coming Saturday as Lowe’s returns to paint a couple of areas with green bear paw prints on some sidewalks as well as a hopscotch.

Our sincere thanks to the Bester Communities First Neighborhoods 1st group, Lowe’s of Shank Farm Road in Hagerstown, the City of Hagerstown, and all of those residents who helped to bring this vision to a reality.