A Helping Hand

BOSTON — The Boys and Girls Club of Boston is looking refreshed, and its children left with a few buggy lessons and possibly new role models after the NPMA’s Leadership Development Group (LDG) volunteered its time there before PestWorld 2012 officially kicked off, earlier this month.

“The LDG decided collectively to make an effort to give back to the communities we travel to,” said Jen Marlowe, committee chair for LDG, adding that this idea came to a head several years ago during one NPMA Academy. Marlowe credited past LDG chairs Justin McCauley and Adam Witt in helping kick-start the initiative. At PestWorld 2011 in New Orleans, LDG assisted the local Habitat for Humanity chapter.

In Boston, Marlowe said the volunteer group was on site for over three hours, where they first helped with site maintenance needs – that included painting, picking up trash, raking leaves and weeding.

After, the group worked and interacted with about 60 kids under the age of ten. “We started with a presentation on ‘good bugs’ versus ‘bad bugs” and stressed the importance of using a professional,” Marlowe said. The group showed the children some “artifacts” from the field, including a wasp nest and containers damaged by chewing from rodents.

And of course, the kids got to get their hands on everyone’s favorite pest: the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.

“Sometimes it’s hard to know the impact you make when trying to do good for others,” Marlowe said. “But luckily for us, the kids made this day very rewarding by wearing their enthusiasm, creativity and gratitude on their sleeves.

“We decided that this mission to give back will hopefully inspire other members of our industry to get involved in our efforts, or efforts within their own communities,” Marlowe continued. “But we also wanted people outside our industry to feel the need to pay it forward.”