Volume 2, No. 17. September 13, 2002
Painting
the town
The gap between
the haves and have nots narrows every year in Branson, Missouri, thanks to Community
Caring Day, an annual event when businesses go to work helping non profit organizations
in the tourist city and its surrounding communities. Recreational Management,
Inc., owners and operators of The Tracks, five family entertainment centers
in Branson, this year sent five of its staff to be among the 350 volunteers
engaged in 70 different projects for 28 nonprofit organizations.
“It’s a neat thing for the community, and a neat thing for nonprofit
organizations that don’t have a lot of dollars,” said Larry Schmitt,
president of Recreational Management. “One of the things we talk about
in Branson is serving others, and this is an opportunity to serve others.”
Community Caring Day always occurs in late August when the city enters its slow
tourism period and many business operators can break away. This year, Schmitt
and company Vice President Mike Russell, Maintenance Manager Randy Kuhns, maintenance
worker Mike Schackleford and kart operator Shawn Calhoun joined 10 other volunteers
in repainting the Kimberling City Chamber of Commerce. “It was a pretty-good-size
building and took us most of the day to get it done,” Schmitt said.
Past tasks included painting the Boston Community Center and repairing its roof—“I
remember it was a very hot, tin metal roof,” Schmitt said—painting
the Salvation Army building, and cleaning the metal siding walls of the Halfway
House. “We rented a pressure washer and cleaned the outside of the home
and all the deck areas,” Schmitt said. Noting the trend that he and his
Tracks crew usually are assigned to paint and clean, he said, “When you’ve
got unskilled labor like us, you can’t mess that up too bad.”
©2002, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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