First Presbyterian Church Fort Dodge

 Larry Lee – Serving the Community Through PICA

Jan and Phyllis Wilson organized PICA (Pride in Community Appearance) in the fall of 2002. I joined up with the group shortly after that, and I continue to be part of PICA. Wilsons, in their retirement, decided to take on a project in which people would work together to make Fort Dodge a more attractive place to live and work. I had known the Wilsons for a number of years from having their children in class and from traveling with them, so I decided that I wanted to be a part of that group. PICA meets Tuesday and

Thursday mornings beginning in late April and continuing through Mid-October. Activities include raking, sweeping, trimming, planting, mulching, painting and anything else that needs to be done. It is not unusual to have 20 to 25 people working together on these projects, wearing our blue t-shirts that help to identify us.

Over the years our PICA work has taken us to most of the city parks, City Hall, Library, Fort Museum, Blanden, schools and other places that need our attention. One of the things that has happened over the years has been the friendships that have developed, and that leads to concerns when PICA workers or their families have problems. We become aware of these things when email messages are exchanged.

We end each PICA season with a dinner. Jan Wilson takes before and after pictures throughout the season, and we view those and then talk about what we are going to do next year.