By Justin Adams | [email protected]

When a Facebook user took to the Herriman Happenings group to lament the state of one of its parks, Heather Garcia knew it was time to put her plan into action.

Garcia, as a member of the city’s planning commission, had recently been discussing with her colleagues how they could be more involved in the community. One idea they came up with: create a Facebook group dedicated to organizing residents around good causes and volunteer service projects. 

So the complaints of some litter at J. Lynn Crane Park made for the perfect opportunity to get the group started. Just 24 hours later, a group of seven residents got together to tidy up the park. 

“I think we have a lot of people who are willing to help out,” Garcia said about the budding group. “There are a lot of people in our community who know we can’t expect the city to be responsible for everything. I think of it as us getting together and building our community.”

The group of about 200 members has plans to accomplish service projects ranging from cleaning up weeds along the city’s roads to installing “tiny libraries,” a recently popular trend of building small receptacles in public spaces where people can borrow or leave books. For that, Garcia said they are looking for residents who would either like to host a library on their park strip or help build them. 

You can find and join the group by searching Herriman Community Service Project on Facebook.