Volunteers a big help to Miners

For months Mat-Su Miner general manager Pete Christopher and the Miner organization has been busy renovating Hermon Brothers Field. The task of turning the Palmer field into one of Alaska's premiere ballparks was one huge job consisting of many small tasks.

Christopher was able to accomplish the necessary staff by enlisting the help of many volunteers.

In reality the enterprising general manager had more volunteers than a University of Tennessee football team.

The list of volunteers who helped in the beautification of Hermon Brothers is longer than a Tolstoy novel.

"I would not have done all this without them," Christopher said.

Christopher noted that he has a core of volunteers who have spent countless hours down at the ballpark, rain or shine.

It was not uncommon to see Christopher, Randy Bovy, Dale Carter, Rich Barker, Steven Sawyer and Kent Sheets hammering away in the clubhouse as late as 10 or 11 p.m.

"It was five degrees below zero and those guys were out here," Christopher said.

The renovation of the clubhouse was one of the primary for the Miners. To accomplish that Christopher enlisted the help of Mike Liebing, who built the lockers, and Troy Crow, who donated countless hours to wire the facility.

Though the projects were a plenty and the budget was small, Christopher and his volunteers were able to get the projects done. Several local businesses donated not only their time, but their services.

Christopher noted that United Rentals and CEE (Career for Employment education) have been two of the Miners' biggest supporters.

"Those guys come down every day and see if we need anything," Christopher said of CEE. "Joe Crum Sr., Joe Crum Jr., Dave Lipps and James Croy have come down many times with their front-end loaders to help us out."

At one point the Miners even had the Air Force at their disposal. Tim Boring, an instructor on Elmendorf Air Force Base, brought a class of airmen to Hermon Brothers. The group of approximately 60 airmen spent an entire Saturday in May cleaning up the ballpark and surrounding area.

The Colony High and Palmer High baseball teams have also helped out in various clean-ups.

A pair of local gravel business chipped in when the Miners' redid their infield. AAA Gravel and T and J Gravel supplied the Minerswith gravel and topsoil.

Christopher also noted that businesses such as Dirtworks, Wayne's Concrete, Northern Enterprise, Norcon Electric, Quality Fencing, Spenard Builders Supply, Landscape Supply and Carpet World have also helped a great deal in the renovation of Hermon Brothers.