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One year ago today I left Baltimore for Tacoma, Washington on my bicycle. I remember pedaling away and spending my first few days in those Pennsylvania mountains reflecting on all we had accomplished and wondering how the future would unfold for The 6th Branch. It was hard to let go of all the responsibilities I had always held so closely. There was enormous uncertainty surrounding Operation Oliver and the survival of the organization. Our board was stretched thin, we had no paid staff, and no money. Eight months before I left, I received this message through our website:

On February 8, we acquired this beautiful Dino for the playspace in Oliver. A last minute message from friends let me know about a playground being decommissioned by the city. This Dinosaur climber was really too fabulous not to save from the scrap heap. We worked with amazing folks from the Department of Recreation and Parks to cut away, trailer and tie-down, transport and relocate this awesome guy.

I got involved with The 6^th Branch on a very simple principle: Why not me? What I mean by that is, if others are out there helping in the community, why can’t I do it too? Of all the community service opportunities out there, I chose The 6^th Branch. I showed up because I love to help and T6B projects gave me an opportunity to learn and to grow as a human being while helping out in a community that has been neglected for so long. 

Today, The 6th Branch is proud to announce our new logo, designed to reflect the spirit of the organization and create greater brand recognition.

Last fall, our Executive Director Dave Landymore asked a group of elementary school kids to greet the person next to them, shake hands, and introduce themselves. He taught them a lesson about community. The unfortunate thing about that is I think those children understood the concept better than most of today’s adults. We are losing our sense of community in this country.

I read about The 6th Branch before I volunteered with them.  A friend of mine had a positive volunteer experience with the organization and, knowing that I was skeptical of most volunteer opportunities yet civic-minded, she encouraged me to read up on the organization’s work in the Oliver community.  In my casual research, I came across an essay that had been submitted to the Governor’s Compassionate Marylander Award written by Rich Blake, co-founder and current Chairman of the Board of The 6th Branch. 

Hello readers! My name is Eric Smith and the title of my essay is, “Why Oliver Is So Great by Eric Smith”. My name is Eric Smith and I think that the Oliver community is great because…OK, enough of the 2^nd grade writing skills. For the fourth time in this essay, my name is Eric Smith. So now that I am more than confident that you will not easily forget my name, I am a veteran, a volunteer, and a lifelong citizen of Baltimore City. While I often travel far away from it, Baltimore City is never far from me.

As you all know by now, the Veteran Artitst Program has been involved in Operation:Oliver since the inception of the project and represents an important tangible asset to the Oliver neighborhood in the work that we are doing both in creating green spaces and painting murals.  The whole idea of community art is something that we take for granted.  I would venture to say that most of us live in nice neighborhoods where manicured lawns, driveways, and houses are in good condition and the community is filled with families who have the resources to not only keep their individual homes looking great but can prop up the community by planting flowers, building playgrounds, and even creating public art for everyone to enjoy.

Being part of a community has always been important to me.  I always find myself drawn to simpler times, of the 1950’s or the Old West, when everyone did their part and worked together to make the place they lived a great place.  A town where you walk down the street and everyone knows your name and what you give to make your community work, you feel a sense of satisfaction in building a community.  Compassion and helping others has always been a part of me, and while in high school, I got heavily involved in the Buddy Program, volunteering almost all my free time to be a friend of students

I enlisted in the US military out of high school for just one reason; I wanted to serve.  I wasn’t particularly drawn to the flashy uniforms, or the promise of travel to far-away lands, or money for college.  Not to say that those things didn’t sweeten the deal, but the initial motivation was a simple sense of service.The only real notion of military service that I had growing up came from two cousins who had both enlisted in the Marine Corps, but that didn’t really appeal to me.  All I had heard about the Marines was that they brain-washed everyone in boot camp and turned them into robots.