Calvary Baptist volunteers paint baseball dugout
CARIBOU, Maine — Young members of the Calvary Baptist church generously gave up a week of their Summer vacation to help the Caribou Recreation Department, and could be seen fixing up the Little League dugout on July 12, 2016.
Robbie Jalbert, pastor of students and families at the Caribou Baptist Church, has been reaching out to the Caribou community for half a decade.
“Five years ago, the leadership team of our church had a meeting and asked what we could do to give back,” Jalbert said, “and how we can make our mark on this town so that if Calvary Baptist Church went away tomorrow, people would think ‘man, we miss them.’ Not because of us, but because of Jesus.”
From there, the church conducted research on what other churches were doing in their communities, and started by rebuilding a playground at Teague Park, and haven’t stopped since.
“Our desire is to look at how we can serve Caribou in a way that shows our love of Christ,” Jalbert added. “It’s not the only week of the year we do this because we do it throughout the entire year, but this is a week we set apart where people take time off work and kids take time out of sports.”
The church also brings in a number of volunteers from outside Aroostook County and even the state. According to Jalbert, they had a group from North Berwick as well as college students from Mississippi help last week, and a group from Georgia the week before.
Parks and Recreation Superintendent Gary Marquis is grateful for the years of hard work from the volunteers.
According to Marquis, the church group has rebuilt both Hilltop and Teague Park playgrounds, painted the Wellness Center gym, and rebuilt bridges in the park near Burger Boy, to name a few of their projects.
“They do great work, and if you look at their ages, they’re mostly all teenagers,” Marquis said. “They do a tremendous job for us and we don’t have to babysit them. They’re not about getting credit and they don’t look for it, but I can’t say enough about them.”
According to the rec superintendent, there is only one full-time maintenance person at the department along with two part-timers, which makes it difficult to focus on every project that needs attention.
“We cover a lot of ground at the Rec Department,” Marquis said, “and they help us out with the little projects that we want to do but just can’t get around to.”
According to Marquis, the church group usually starts their week by having a party at the park with a band and some games. Then, on the following Monday, they work up until Friday afternoon and have another party on Saturday.
“They don’t mess around, and they focus on their job,” Marquis said. “It’s been super having them around.”
