Leaf the Raking To Us!

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By Carolyn Wolfrum

I love so many things about living in Southern Gables.  We really do have a neighborhood where neighbors take such good care of each other!  This care certainly was on display this last Friday and Saturday with our Annual Leaf Raking Day!

Photo by Judy Whitten

The word was put out to our neighbors who needed a little help getting rid of their leaves.  Students from the Denver Christian School came out and did the leaf raking. After that was completed, neighborhood volunteers went around and picked up the leaves so that we could drop them off at the Lakewood Greenhouse down on Yale on Saturday morning. It was so lovely to be a part of something the helped people who needed it.  Some people were the most “experienced” residents in the neighborhood.  Leaves were raked for people who are elderly, disabled, or experiencing illness.  My personal favorite story came from Marci DeMott, our Association Board Treasurer.  While she was driving, she spotted some leaves that needed to be picked up that were not on our “list.”  She decided to go to the door and ask if by chance the resident needed their leaves removed.  Well it turned out that this neighbor was down with the flu and was so thankful for the unexpected help!

Photo by the author

I have to say that from my perspective, this was really quite fun!  I got to drive a U-Haul truck, which worked out fabulously.  I now know that many, MANY leaf bags fit in the back of a U- Haul. The mood while we dropped off the leaves was joyous.  It is said that many hands make light work.  But really, this didn’t feel like work when the many hands we had had such a lovely time laughing and joking while we emptied the leaves at the Greenhouse.

There was so much beauty to this operation.  20 wonderful neighbors did the work of coordinating where the leaves were to be picked up from, picking up the leaves, driving them down to the compost center, then taking them out of the bags. Personally, I’m pretty excited to do the whole thing all over again next year!

Photo by Linda Jackmond

You can take your leaves to the Lakewood Leaf Drop and keep them from going to waste in the landfill. The City is accepting leaves to be turned into mulch and compost through November 22. Details on when, how, and where are in the fall newsletter we delivered last month. If you don’t still have it, you can read or download the newsletter from here.

Carolyn Wolfrum has been a Southern Gables resident since 2002, and is an itinerant teacher of the Deaf for Jeffco Schools. She loves working in her garden, running, bike riding, reading and traveling. She is Vice President of the West Metro Fire Protection Board of Directors, and a member of the Neighborhood Association Board as well. Carolyn is in charge of the Southern Gables Book Club, and reminds us that the book for the January 13 discussion is History Matters by David McCullough. 

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