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Kaiserslautern Military Community leadership kicked off a new program on Wednesday designed to provide opportunities for Airmen, Soldiers and civilians to volunteer to maintain and beautify KMC common areas.
Mirroring the Adopt-a-Highway concept in the U.S., the new Installation Excellence Adoption Program gives groups, units and clubs at Ramstein, Vogelweh and Sembach the chance to “adopt” a small piece of the base.
The 735th Civil Engineer Squadron has “common areas” around the base mapped and designated for the new program.
“These are high-traffic, high-visibility or high-use areas,” said Maj. Phyllis Jones, Ramstein Combat Proud coordinator. “Groups, organizations or clubs can select from our list of areas, or may come up with suggestions of their own.”
However, suggestions must be coordinated with 735th CES, so as not to work in areas contractors or facility managers are responsible for, Major Jones added.
Groups who adopt an area are responsible year-round for the small areas of grass not mowed by contractors, litter pick-up, weeding, raking of leaves in the fall, sweeping parking slots and general appearance. They receive a check list for base standards. “The finishing touches,” said Major Jones.
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Organizations receive a placard to place in their areas to let the public know who has adopted that space. They will also get an “Adoption Certificate.”
Major Jones recommends that groups plan to spend one day a month on an adopted area, though some areas would benefit from weekly or daily litter patrol, help with watering during the hot season or raking leaves in the fall.
“These daily or weekly efforts could be divided among organizations by sending one person a day or two to three people per week instead of sending all members once a month,” she said.
All supplies and equipment needed for the work are available through the 735th CES Self-Help shop.
The program is intended to be fun and educational, promote civic responsibility, community spirit and esprit de corps, said Major Jones.
“This would be a great scout project for rank advancement, or super company grade officer or performance report bullets for community service and involvement. There will also be certificates and a traveling trophy for work especially well done.”
Interested groups can call the 735th CES customer service at 480-6540 to register for a briefing and checklists.
For information on adopting parts of Sembach, call Staff Sgt. Shawna Chiasson at 496-7422; for Vogelweh, Kapaun, Einsiedlerhof and other KMC areas, call Master Sgt. Adrian McCracken at 489-7107.
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