ARLINGTON — Volunteers spread clear plastic out on the floors and stairs at Arlington City Hall and started to paint the walls a shade called “bon fide beige,” with a mocha accent wall in the back.
The project was one of six coordinated by Washington State University students in Arlington and Darrington this week. They started working in the communities Saturday, March 12, and plan to finish Saturday, March 19.
After the deadly Oso mudslide two years ago, WSU committed to helping the Stillaguamish Valley with recovery efforts. As part of that, students put together service projects last year and this year. About 40 students participated in April 2015.
There were fewer students this year but more local involvement. Organizer Colby Cavanaugh, a senior communications and comparative ethnic studies major, rallied support from the cities and school districts, Darrington Area Friends for Public Use, Darrington Ranger District, Oso Fire Department, Snohomish County WSU Alumni Association and local 4H and Future Farmers of America clubs. Three students came from Pullman to help and at least 75 people with the local groups signed up to pitch in on different projects.
“It’s been really fun helping coordinate and put the pieces together,” Cavanaugh said. “I’ve just learned a lot about how different organizations are working on different projects with the same focus.”
The first two projects of the week were painting Arlington City Hall and removing broken pipes in the stormwater wetlands near Haller Park. Students also planned to clean up flood debris at Twin Rivers Park.
In Darrington, the project list included putting in stairs leading down to the beach at Sauk River Park, cleaning up messes left by windstorms on the Old Sauk Trail, and filling potholes and clearing brush along Forest Road 23 leading to the White Chuck Bench trailhead. They also planned to help out in Oso with spring cleaning at the fire department.
“We built off the idea of our previous weekend projects,” Cavanaugh said. “The communities are still working on recovery efforts. While it might look like everything’s smoothed over, there are still a lot of things people can help with.”
WSU’s work in the Stillaguamish Valley has become a learning experience for the students involved and for university leaders, too, said Michael Gaffney, emergency management coordinator and assistant director of expansion. It’s redefining how a land grant university should respond when there is a disaster.
“It’s been a very powerful experience,” he said. “It’s been an opportunity for WSU to be a better partner and to provide value in ways we haven’t before and to provide, I think, a life-changing experience for some of our students here.”
WSU plans to take a similar approach to helping communities devastated by wildfires last year. Administrators are working with Okanogan, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Grant and Ferry counties and the Colville Indian Reservation to figure out what kind of help is needed in those areas and what projects they could plan.
Because WSU has students from around the state, volunteer projects after a disaster can be a way for students to help close to home. Cavanaugh is a graduate of Arlington High School, so the week of service in the Stilly Valley was a chance to help his friends and neighbors.
“After the mudslide, it was the day before we had to return from spring break, and I think a lot of us WSU students felt helpless,” he said. “We were wondering, ‘How are we going to help back home?’”
Working on this year’s projects, he’s been proud to see people come together from both sides of the state and from all around the Stillaguamish Valley to make the communities stronger, he said.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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