#DigOutLehigh - first report

We started with one goal: to help at least one car owner extract their vehicle from mounds of snow and ice. Yesterday, a small group of people (Four; and one of us with the right equipment) decided to form a small team to grab a shovel and just start digging. Three of us work at Lehigh, and we all live in NOT South Bethlehem. One of the team members has no relationship to Lehigh (doesn't work there, didn't graduate from there), but is one of the most respected volunteers in Bethlehem, he's my neighbor and a really good friend. Yep, he's the one with the right equipment, too.

Kathy Frederick, Stacey Kimmel, Todd Dietrich and myself. What do we have in common?
We are all older than 30 years old; one just slightly.
We all had some flexibility in our schedule.
We all love to burn calories (Shoveling snow burns 500 calories per hour!)
We all appreciate our garages, car parks and spacious driveways.
We all have seen the road conditions in South Bethlehem.
We all needed to do something about it.

I started recruiting with a hashtag on Monday, after posting a picture of me helping one student dig her car out of a Lehigh parking lot. Through a few comments in social media, it became clear that many residents understand the conflict: students don't have the equipment needed to dig out their cars. And guess what? The stores are not stocked with shovels either. I was so happy to see a few friends join me in not just complaining, but in their willingness to pick up a shovel.

Just moments before our scheduled rendezvous, someone posted a link to this article about the same motivation, validating our actions.

When we got to our selected meeting point, we discovered the city was going to remove the snow that night, and alerted everyone to move their cars. There was no email, no posting on a website, no press release, no warning. Just signs planted in the snow mounds. These signs were planted at some point during the day. When the students are in classes. By the time most of them returned to their homes, panic hit. They called their landlords wondering where they were going to be able to move their cars. Luckily, a few administrators at Lehigh worked out a temporary situation, but it definitely took a network of knowing who on campus can actually get things done - thanks, Dale Kochard!

We started at 3:30 to take the most advantage of late afternoon sun to melt the ice a bit. We started with the first person digging out, a nice young man named Alex. By 4:15 traffic started to increase, school busses were playing chicken with cars fighting for right of way. We were trying to put snow anywhere we could that would get cars out. Realizing we would just have to move snow twice, we just started throwing it anywhere.

Neighbors helped. Students called their friends to help. Landlords (Louis, you are awesome) came out to work with their tenants. Yes, there are actually landlords who step up in these situations. Not all are absentee. We took turns digging and pushing while dodging cars that didn't have patience for us. We were getting worried about what might happen after dark. I called Campus Police to help traffic flow. Dispatch told me to call the city. I called the city - no guarantees for help in a growing safety concern.

After 2 hours and 15 minutes, we got three cars out; Alex, Cheri and another Alex. I also met two fine neighbors Carlos and his wife, who offered us coffee. Other people were working on other cars and had equipment. We left feeling good about our efforts, but worried that the city would actually come through and clear the snow.

I'm happy to end this post on a positive note:

#LehighDigOut; just an idea

It's been a while since I posted on this particular blog. But since I had a thought that could impact some folks on campus, let's see what might happen if I use this one to share an idea.

There are a significant number of student cars buried under snow. Because:
1. In a short period of time, there has been a significant amount of snow accumulated in Bethlehem.
2. even in dry weather, campus and South Bethlehem is challenged with too many cars, and not enough parking spaces.
3. snow removal on city streets has been complicated by parked cars snowed in and plows unable to get around them, so each time a new snow fall happens the same cars get more snow piled on them.

For a number of students who live off campus, there's also a challenge of where to put the snow - even if they had proper equipment to sign themselves out. Sure, they could walk to the hardware store on 4th street (Cantelmi's) and buy a shovel - if there were some in stock.

But what if the community rallied and helped out the poor folks, students and "townies" alike, who have their cars hopelessly buried?

We have a wonderful tradition on campus called "MOOV-in" where faculty, staff and orientation student leaders help move in the first year students into the dorms. It's a great welcoming experience for the students, and the nice bonding ritual for the staff who regularly participate. Why not take this same positive energy and help out the many students and folks who live in South Bethlehem to get cars moved in order to rediscover our curbs and parking lots?

I was working on a student's car this afternoon. With just the two of us and one hour, we were able to clear her tail pipe so she could at least make sure the engine turned over. I hope to help her finish the job so she can move her car to clear the entire parking space. She literally had snow and ice mounded from the plows.

I felt bad that I had to leave, but I only had an hour to spare today.

The best time to dig out cars is in the early afternoon, after the sun has warmed up the snow a bit. At night, all that warning turns into another layer of ice. Unless you have an ice breaker, the standard shovels aren't going to cut through it.

I wonder - how many people can dedicate some exercise time to helping others dig out their cars? We've got a few programs (Like the "Be Well") for staff, and a few smart people to help organize. It's not a "super storm" where folks are without power. But this really is a challenge for many folks.

So let's start on Wednesday, February 19th from 2-5pm on Webster street. We'll start at the corner of Webster and 5th street, and just move snow away from cars so that they might have a chance to move them. Bring a shovel, wear layers and be ready to lift and walk the snow across the street to a safe place. One shovel at a time. That's how this will go. The more people, the better the effort. I just hope the folks who own the cars won't freak out. I'll be leaving notes on them tonight.

It would be awesome if this effort could be coordinated with the City Snow Removal schedule. I called the streets department - and they are working on a schedule, but as we wait for that to be worked out, we have a lot of cars to dig out.

Seriously asking. Who wants to pitch in and help? Two weeks until Spring Break.