There are heroes and then there’s Javier Garcia.
The decade-plus West Liberty resident realized “we need to do something” late last week after a neighborhood child was slightly injured wandering through debris at Friendship Park caused by the derecho that hit West Liberty on Monday, Aug. 10.
“We need to do something,” Garcia, 33, told his wife, Alexandra, last week, taking responsibility to clear the small park of limbs and debris before the city could get to the work.
“He knew the city would be busy with other clean-up,” Alexandra Garcia said, figuring the nearby Oak Ridge cemetery and the southside park might be among the final priorities for the city.
That was true, according to City Parks & Recreation Director Nick Heath, who said the project was “on the list” to be taken care of this week before the Garcia couple “knocked it out for us.”
A landscaper for an Iowa City firm, Garcia wasn’t concerned with tackling the task at Friendship Park, starting when he came home from his job Friday evening and working until about 10 p.m. just trying to cut off a giant limb that was hanging from a tree. By 2 p.m. Saturday, after about six more hours of work, the couple had cleared the park of limbs and debris, calling their call to action “a safety concern,” knowing children not only in their neighborhood but other parts of town come to the park to play almost daily.
“We should try to help out,” Garcia told his wife, who said the family takes a lot of pride in taking care of the park, even picking up debris throughout the year and even raking leaves from time to time. “We wanted to do our part and help out,” she said.
“My kids think it’s their park,” Alexandra Garcia said, telling kids in the neighborhood, “are you guys coming to our park?” She had four children including three who helped out picking up sticks and small debris over the weekend – Jayleen, 9, Javier, 7 and Alyssa, 4.
“I keep telling them this is not your park. It’s the city’s park,” she laughed, noting the kids take a lot of pride in caring for the facility.
The Garcia’s said by Saturday, the city was on their block picking up debris from the storm and even commented on the project, helping them out by getting ride of the logs and limbs the family had gathered on the curb of the park.
“I can’t thank them enough for their hard work,” said Heath. “They did an amazing job getting it cleaned up.”
He said the city needs to keep promoting the “awesome things” that community members do for West Liberty. “We have an amazing community,” he said. “Way to go West Liberty!”