Making a Difference

One Spade youth volunteering to make a difference;

At various times during the year the One Spade youth Packers volunteer their time for the following community service organizations. They assist the Rotary clubs of kern river Valley and Santa Clarita with their fund raising programs, they assist the American Legion with their food giveaway programs for the economically disadvantaged, They have  helped with the United States Marine Corps "Toys for Tots" program by collecting toys and delivering them to needy families, Each year they help the Kern Valley Exchange with their  major fund raiser and they have helped the Kern River Valley Masonic Lodge with their fund raising activities.  they have  also helped several of the local churches deliver food and clothing to needful families in the Kern River Valley. 

During the Summer months each year the One Spade Youth Packers do several  volunteer projects for the U.S. Forest Service at various locations within the Sequoia National Forest at trail heads and livestock public pastures that can be driven  to. Projects have included picking up and hauling trash away  and maintaining public pasture fences. Using their leaned skills with pack mules and horses the One Spade Youth Packers travel into the back country of the Golden Trout Wilderness and the Dome Lands Wilderness and do various projects for the U.S. forest Service including maintenance of public pasture fences and removing logs and limbs from the trails. All of their learned skills with trail clearing equipment  such as mcleods, picks, shovels, chain saws are put to practical use. It is not uncommon on the first trip into the back country in the spring to encounter logs as big as 4 feet in diameter that have a trail or creek crossing completely blocked. With the Training the youth have received and because they are in a wilderness area they must use a "misery Whip" (5-6 foot hand cross-cut saw)  to remove the log from the trail.