CLEVELAND — Nearly every year, our WKYC Studios employees take part in a community clean-up, as part of our Planet CLE environmental initiative. And that’s why our team met up at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens on Saturday, to do some weeding and planting.
We had no idea Cleveland would be having a scorching heat wave when we set the clean-up date for June 22. But we kept our promise. More than a dozen 3News staffers showed up with their gardening gloves, and were sent out to clean up the Hungarian, German, Italian, Ukrainian and Slovenian gardens.
Meteorologist Anthony Copeland and anchors Lynna Lai, Jay Crawford and Christi Paul had a special assignment: They helped plant a brand-new garden near the amphitheater with flowers and shrubs. Bremec Garden Centers generously donated everything needed to convert a plain grassy space into an elaborately landscaped garden.
“Despite the heat, it felt great sprucing up the cultural gardens with my WKYC family. It is truly one of Cleveland’s gems,” said Anthony Copeland, who went on to lend a hand at the German garden after his first task was complete.
“It was so much fun,” agreed Christi Paul, marveling at the serenity and lushness of the various ethnic gardens. “They’re all connected by stairways and it’s just a beautiful area.”
We’re grateful to our employees and viewers who joined in to help beautify the Cultural Gardens in advance of its summer concerts and events celebrating the Pan American Masters Games happening in Cleveland. Thanks also to our great friend, Ricky Smith of R.A.K.E., the Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere organization, who topped off the outing by showing up with ice cream for us.
We worked hard, got done by 11 am and all the volunteers agreed – it was a magnificent way to start our day, in such a beautiful setting.