After school program at Desert Willow registration now open

Dale Janway
·2 min read

The Boys & Girls Club of Carlsbad is expanding. Thanks to a very generous donation by Intrepid Potash and Intrepid President and CEO Bob Jornayvez, the Boys & Girls Club will be providing after school programming for students at Desert Willow Elementary. The school site will open on Sept. 26. Special thanks to former Boys and Girls Club executive director Ekta Bhakta for all her hard work with developing this program. This is a pilot program, with hopes of eventually opening similar programs at other locations. The club will be assisting with homework and providing fun activities for students. Programs will run from 2:30-5:45 p.m. and you can register through the Boys & Girls Club.

Intrepid Potash has been a great community partner for a very long time, especially when it comes to youth activities. We know we can always count on them.

Activities for the 50th anniversary celebration of Guadalupe Mountains National Park begin on Saturday, Sept. 24. There will be free admission all day, with activities including a National Public Lands Day volunteer project and numerous ranger-guided hikes through McKittrick Canyon, Pinery Trail and Frijole Ranch. There will also be a chance to meet law enforcement at the park and, of course, a stargazing party in the evening. More activities are set for Sunday and next week, including a 50th anniversary trip to Guadalupe Peak and a limited trip to the Ship on the Desert.

The full list of activities is posted on the park’s calendar page, https://www.nps.gov/gumo/planyourvisit/calendar.htm , and we have also shared it to the City’s Facebook page. Special thanks to Guadalupe Mountains National Park Superintendent Eric Leonard for his hard work organizing these events.

Speaking of National Public Lands Day, you can also see photos from all of the cleanup efforts going on this week here https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/272c43a090a64fc18d309c6c0aaa19b4

If you click on the “Successful Cleanups” button, you can see photos of cleanup projects involving groups such as Devon Energy, LM Energy, J&J Home Care, and the Carlsbad Anti Drug/Gang Coalition. Picked up items include tires, broken boats, a hot tub, door frames, microwaves and lots of trash.

National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest single-day volunteer effort for public lands. Locally, the BLM-driven effort, “Better Together” is a competition across Eddy County in which businesses and civic groups are participating in cleanup efforts while competing for the “Golden Tire” award.

Please keep up the good work.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: After school program at Desert Willow registration now open