BURRILLVILLE – Ten volunteers from Marcum, LLP – the certified accountants and advisors firm – spent their day of service helping members of the Burrillville Land Trust to build a trail on two properties in town.
The group carved a new trail that connects the Edward D. Vock Conservation Area with the former Brown University property. The new trail is scheduled to open in the fall of 2023.
Instead of banging away at a keyboard or sweating over an IRS tax audit, the group from Marcum spent the morning with hand clippers and hand saws, cutting stems off trees, moving logs and cutting prickly briars along a 1/4 mile previously marked path deep within the land trust property known as the Vock Conservation Area. The group donned gloves, boots, hats and orange-colored safety vests as part of their day of service activity.
“They were eager to get outdoors and help out. We had a perfect day for this type of activity,” said Doris Alberg, secretary of the land trust and group leader for the day.
Launched in 2015, the Marcum day of service gives associates throughout the U.S. the opportunity to come together in a collaborative activity on a single day to support the communities in which the firm does business. Approximately 85 nonprofit organizations in Marcum regions across the country were this year’s beneficiary organizations, covering a broad spectrum of causes, including hunger, healthcare, housing, environment, poverty, social services, crisis intervention, animal rescue and more.
Volunteers from Marcum spread out all over Rhode Island helping with the Rhode Island Food Bank and the Burrillville Land Trust.
“We were so pleased to have them come out and help us,” said Alberg. “Building a public trail in the woods is not your typical volunteer activity.”
The group spent the morning moving fallen trees, cutting briars and brush, blazing a trail to the north of the existing Bobcat Loop Trail
The work carved out another 1/4 mile along wetlands leading to uplands on the property.
“This trail will be absolutely beautiful in the spring and all throughout the year,” said Land Trust President Paul Roselli.
“We do plan on putting in a raised walkway above the wetlands along this part of the trail,” Roselli added. “We respect the life that lives here and want to make sure that the animals that use these wetlands are not disturbed. Those two-legged creatures – us – who venture here will see the marsh come to life and flourish in the spring and summer. It should be a very beautiful and exciting trail.”
The land trust has sponsored other groups including volunteers from Amica Mutual Insurance.
“As volunteers come out, they in turn not only help us in the short term by building a trail, but in the long term, they help protect our rural character and sense of place,” said Roselli. “The holidays bring out the best in people. No more so than the folks at Marcum, LLP.”
