Popular walking path gets some TLC

The Makaeo Jogging Path got a little tender loving care Thursday as dozens of Youth With A Mission students and staff pulled weeds and beautified the community area.

Nearly 70 people, including some 50 students and staff with the program based out of the University of the Nations in Kona, spent several hours at the Old Kona Airport Park path in the afternoon sun pulling weeds, digging out fountain grass and sprucing up the area.

“It’s a nice way to help out while we’re in Kona,” said Sarah Morrison, a YWAM student hailing from New Zealand. “It’s the least we can do to give back.”

Thursday was the third consecutive week the group has volunteered its time to the community walking/jogging path, said Betty De Roy, with Friends for Fitness, which oversees the area. De Roy said the group has committed to giving a hand weekly for the first three months of the year.

It is likely, she said, YWAM will continue in the following quarter. She referred further comment to YWAM, which when contacted subsequently declined to comment.

De Roy said the help YWAM has provided in maintaining the trail this month has been noticed by many users, as well as area residents. She also said the students on Wednesdays pull grass, weeds and other items on the makai side of the park.

The Makaeo Jogging Path comprises a 0.7-mile path that circumnavigates an array of garden plots maintained by various people and community groups. De Roy said a survey conducted about five years ago showed during the busiest times of the day, during the early morning hours and after work hours, that an average 100 people used the path.