Mitchelle Stephenson — For The Capital From left, Mike Bedard, 14, Joseph Smith, 14, Shawn Peterson, 13, Noah Blacker, 13, and Jesse Peterson, 15, take a break from unloading kayaks at the West/Rhode Riverkeeper’s free kayak program in Shady Side. The boys are members of Boy Scout Troop 853 of Shady Side.By Mitchelle Stephenson
Published in The Capital 07/23/2009
The West/Rhode Riverkeeper is once again hosting free kayaking in front of Discovery Village in Shady Side. For those who show up, beginning at 5:30 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month, volunteers from the riverkeeper's office (and others) will provide the boat, life jacket and paddles.
This year, the riverkeeper staff has help from Boy Scout Troop 853 of Shady Side.
Kelly Myers, the volunteer coordinator for the West/Rhode Riverkeeper, said the boys had volunteered to come out in two shifts.
While Kelly registered the families, the Scouts helped fit life jackets and get the boats off of the trailers and into the water.
At one point, one of the boats awaiting paddlers on the shore drifted off, and one of the Scouts jumped into action, securing a kayak and paddle and hustling onto the water to rescue the wayward craft.
The Scouts working the first shift were Joseph Smith, 14, Shawn Peterson, 13, Jesse Peterson, 15, Noah Blacker, 13, Mike Bedard, 14, and Daniel Bedard, 16.
Janeen Smith, one of the troop elders, said that the troop had helped a little last year, but this year decided to keep a schedule. Now the troop helps twice a month.
It was pretty busy last Thursday; they'd let out nearly all 20 boats by 6:30 p.m., with cars pulling up every few minutes, most with families.
"People who are out on the water have more appreciation for it," Kelly said.
The Riverkeeper's office presents the kayaking opportunity because a lot of people, even those who live in Galesville and Shady Side and other waterfront communities, don't have access to the water.
The Riverkeeper is borrowing the boats from Adam Hewison, the founder of Discovery Village. He bought the boats a few years back, but didn't have enough volunteers to run the program regularly.
"Our goal is to get people out on the water," Kelly said.
It is entirely free. People are just asked to fill out a waiver, and then they're able to take the boats out for an hour or so.
J.P. Cullember, 6, came out with his mom and dad, Erika and Tony, and his little brother Anthony, 2. They paddled around for a little while and when they returned, J.P. had exciting news to report: "We saw a snake!" J.P. said. "It was on top of the water and it swam away," he said.
"We've been out three times, but this is the first time we took the little one," Erika said, pointing to Anthony.
"It's great that they let people experience being on the water," Tony added.
The Boy Scouts dutifully help people in and out of the boats, and bring the boats down to the water, all the while joking with one another. "It's just being outside - it's really nice," Mike Bedard said.
The boys are practicing their paddling for a trip next year to Sea Base, a Boy Scout High Adventure camp in the Florida Keys. There, they can only get to and from their base camp - an island a mile from the mainland - by canoe.
Nancy Hood and Bill Kindwa came down for the evening from Severn. They were standing in their life jackets, paddles in hand, waiting for their boat to be taken down to the water by the Scouts.
As the sun hung low in the sky and a thick haze all but obscured the normally clear view of the Bay Bridge, the only sounds from the shore were laughter, a few bird calls and the ''tink tink'' of paddles hitting the water.
The Riverkeeper will continue offering the free program the first and third Thursdays of the month through September.
For more information, visit www.westrhoderiver keeper.org.
Jacquelyn Brady of Edgewater reports that her daughter, Tegan, 8, recently used her birthday as an opportunity to help the neonatal intensive care unit at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
When Tegan was born seven weeks premature, she spent 10 days in the NICU at AAMC.
"She was one of the biggest babies there and had a comparatively short stay," Jacquelyn said.
The NICU gave Tegan a Beanie Baby that she still has: her "lucky parrot."
Instead of birthday gifts from friends, Tegan recently requested Beanie Baby donations. In mid-July, she'd collected 46 of the stuffed critters to donate back to the hospital.
"Residents of the area are so lucky we have a great NICU at AAMC," Jacquelyn said.
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