How to Use the Watering Cart
Step 1
On the day you are scheduled to water, our water tank will be waiting for you behind the United Way building at the agreed time. You can park in one of the public parking lots on 7th Street and walk over there. You will see an orange cart with water tank next to the back door. There will be a black canvas bag hanging on the cart that you can use to carry personal belongings. It also holds the spigot key mentioned in the next step, and the sign-in sheet to track your hours.
Step 2
Remove the large round orange lid to reveal the red basket underneath it. (Sometimes it is tight - just give it a bit of muscle. Lefty loosey!) Use the spigot key and the hose to fill the water tank. I usually fill it completely which is to the 50 liter line on the side of the tank, but if that is too heavy for you, feel free to fill it a bit less.
Step 3
Bring the spigot key with you as you go along. It is likely you will need to refill with water halfway through. You can return to the water spout behind United Way, or Jevon Terance has given us permission to use his (pictured on the left) for this purpose as well. His water spout is behind the far right planter just under his store window. Simply move that out of the way, and use the same spigot key to refill the tank.
Step 4
Open the clear hatch containing the control panel. Flip the switch to ON to turn on the motor, then close the hatch again. Then roll the cart over to Broadway and one by one, use the pressured sprayer to water the flowers in the pots. There are pots on both sides of Broadway, as far south as 9th street (in front of Scorchers). There are also three pots that we manage on 4th street near the Steel City High School. Thankfully, the water tank is on a cart with wheels, making it easy to roll around the downtown area. Additionally, we water the two flowerpots directly in front of United Way.
All in, it's about 1 mile of walking. Depending on your walking speed, this task should take 60-90 minutes. Please be sure to sign in and out using the provided clipboard so we can keep track of your volunteer hours. When you are finished, return the cart to where you found it and ring the bell for a United Way employee to bring it inside.
Thank you!