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To the Supervisor of Mr. Goodwine

Please extend my sincere thanks to Mr. Virgil Goodwine for his outstanding support of the Friends of John Bryan and all of the events sponsored by the Friends on behalf of the Park in 2010.  Through his efforts, the Friends group in cooperation with the Miami Valley Mountain Bike Association (MVMBA) has been able to raise funds by holding events on the trails and then use those funds to buy trail tools, repair bridges and ramps on the trail and print maps that are kept at the trailhead.  Most importantly, he has enabled us to hold an annual 6 Hour Race for Relief which provides the funding for a Port-a-john at the trailhead which is used by runners, hikers, walkers and bikers alike.  This race was attended by 133 riders including the Lionhearts kids cycling team from Cincinnati.  It took a dozen volunteers to put on the race but we raised enough money for the Port-a-john for 2011.

In 2010, the Friends of John Bryan as well as the Miami Valley Mountain Bike Association put in over 650 volunteer hours.  Mr. Goodwine showed his enthusiasm and cooperation in making our volunteers feel appreciated by co-hosting our biggest trail day of the year in April with 22 folks attending.  Half of these folks were his own staff which participated side by side with mountain bikers and trail runners in chain sawing, rock armoring and removing debris from the trail.  It was a very productive trail day thanks to Mr. Goodwine!

We are so grateful to this outstanding Park manager who takes time out of his very busy schedule to attend our Friends meetings, coach on us acquiring park amenities which will serve the park users and suggest projects to leverage the talents of our volunteers.  One of such projects is the new barbeque pit near the trailhead.  Mr. Goodwine led this project which used the talents of one of his folks to build a barbeque pit and, in doing so, teach some underserved kids how to do brick and mortar.  The volunteers cleared the area for the pit and the Friends group purchased the grate and donated the firebricks.  It was a complete win-win project for all involved.

Please pass along our heartfelt thanks for his hard work and graciousness in working with us to make the State Parks a great, safe place to visit.

 

Karen Wells-Hamilton

President, Friends of John Bryan State Park

Parks Liaison, Miami Valley Mountain Bike Association