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Volunteers 'putter' around Corkscrew Woodlands

By LIANE SMITH (Contact)

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

On any given Monday the Corkscrew Woodlands Park in Estero breathes life as volunteers who live in the park team up to complete projects in their community.

The volunteers, named WPA for We Putter Around, started with about a dozen men in 1988, mostly retired from construction jobs, led by park resident Raymond Lee.

Now, the group has about 100 volunteers who actively tear down trees, pressure wash, lay cement and more, all for a cup of Joe and some sweet treats.

"I don't think there's a man with dark hair in the group," WPA leader Al Eckberg said.

Eckberg, 71, is a retired construction worker who lives in Estero, with his wife, six months out of the year. He said he envisioned having retired men from construction become foremen, in their specialized field, for WPA.

"They look forward to it, and we pay them with cookies (homemade by the wives) and coffee," Eckberg said.

According to Corkscrew Woodlands general manager, Tim Fisher, there has been times when he's had to hold the group back from certain projects that require licensed professionals.

"It didn't take me very long to figure out that they can do anything," Fisher added.

All of the projects, which only encompass the community area of the park, not the individually-owned lots the homes sit on, come through Fisher's office.

Once approved by him, Eckberg has the foreman, of which there are many, write up a list of materials. A park credit card allows Eckberg to buy the materials at Home Depot.

The project is then turned over to the carpentry crew, the electrical crew, the power washing crew, the concrete crew, the tree removal crew, the painting crew, the stump grinding crew, the drainage crew, or the plumbing crew for completion.

"Every fence you see in this park, we built," Eckberg said.

Monday morning, a crew of WPAs knocked down troublesome melaleuca trees, while men with saws quickly chopped up the downed beasts. Across the way, a pressure washing crew washed the concrete area around the community dumpster.

Ray Weick, foreman for power washing, said: "We just like to keep the place clean."

Periodically, a drive through the park might arouse one or two men raking, or grinding tree stumps. And the electrical crew built a unit to plug in extension cords for the park's upcoming 25th anniversary party, on Feb. 24.

The community's put-put course was re-carpeted by the WPA, and underground water sprinklers for the flower beds were put in by WPA.

Any bulletin board you come across in the park was built and installed by WPA, as well. And for those in the park who physically cannot work on manual labor projects, some volunteer anyway for such jobs as sign holder when there are street closures due to projects, coffee makers, and project schedulers and time keepers.

According to Fisher, money wise the group of men have saved the park about $50,000 to $60,000 a year.

In the back of the park, the WPA has a shed filled with every possible tool or equipment they might need to projects around the 123-acre park, that's home to 640 residents — mostly snowbirds.

"We still have a lot more to do," Eckberg said.

"We probably have the largest volunteer construction unit in Florida," he added.