Community Muscle: Hundreds Turn Out for Redlands Day of Service
By David James Heiss Redlands News Collective
Photos by David James Heiss
Scores of University of Redlands students help gather rocks.
REDLANDS — Moving rocks around can sound like some heavy lifting. But form a human chain, and that task can fill a roll-off dumpster in less than an hour.
Scores of people of all ages lined sidewalks near the ponds at Ford Park on the morning of Saturday, March 14, to assist with improvements at the annual Redlands Day of Service.
Greg Romer, a member of Redlands Noon Rotary, participated in the event for his first time, moving and laying sod, which he discovered “is really heavy.” He also helped plant trees.
It is not the kind of labor he is used to, and he joked, “We’ll see how our back is tomorrow morning.”
Redlands Round Table member Carlos Soriano plugs in spaces around boulders, which will act as bases for smaller rocks to fill in.
Romer said he was impressed with the support from the community.
“It’s amazing how so many people come out” to move rocks, dig holes, and plant trees and rosemary starter shrubs, Romer said. “I’d imagine it’s hard to coordinate this many people, but it all seems to flow. It’s neat to witness a lot of kids just putting in so much work. It’s refreshing to see that work ethic.”
The Rotary clubs, Kiwanis, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Redlands Service Club Council partnered with the city to coordinate the event.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints member Lance Scullin gets help planting a pepper tree from 2-year-old Milo Scullin.
Club council President Shelli Stockton said she was happy to see so many people come out to contribute to what was “a lot of good work.”
Stockton serves as director of strategic partnerships and community engagement at the University of Redlands. She said she was thrilled to see a large representation from her campus Saturday morning.
“I’d say there were about 200 students from the university, which is the largest volume from us in a while,” she said.
Ethan Millett carefully digs a hole with a Kubota tractor.
In her estimates, based on the number of people who registered ahead of time, there were well over 450 people helping out at Ford Park. Among them was Dylan McLaren, a sophomore at the university who joined a handful of her Alpha Sigma Pi sorority sisters in a human chain that snaked around walkways to pass along rocks to toss into the roll-off.
“We’re always looking for community service opportunities,” she said, reporting that she had also lent a hand moving slabs of sod.
Redlands Mayor Mario Saucedo helps clean up space around freshly planted rosemary.
It was her first time visiting Ford Park. “It kind of reminds me of home,” back in Concord, California, she said. “It’s been a really positive experience. I love seeing all the people come together. So much kindness in one place.”
From left: rocks are passed along a human chain, down the sidewalk, to where sorority sisters Jayme Parsons (in red) tosses rocks passed along from Grace Sanders and Dylan McLaren.
Dane Helmberger, a recent University of Redlands graduate from Tacoma, Washington, who serves with the Climate Action Corps, studied environmental sciences and business management.
“I like getting my hands dirty. Getting in on something like this is always rewarding,” he said, adding that he got to hang out with some of his former Chi Rho Psi fraternity brothers and other friends he does not get to see often.
Allan Griesner of Redlands Noon Rotary sat at a registration table, helping check volunteers in. He sat next to Janie Cole of Redlands Sunrise Rotary, who co-founded the event with him in 2008—an idea that “started with a conversation over dinner,” Griesner said.
Volunteers plant trees and rosemary shrubs at Ford Park as part of the 2026 Redlands Day of Service.
“The community response from the beginning has been amazing,” Griesner said. “The LDS always brings out a lot of volunteers. It’s truly a community effort that’s expanded beyond service clubs.”