Friend of the Month
Carl & Carole Schneider, Friend (s) of the Month
By Les Conklin
April 6. 2003
Perhaps it was the spirit of service, evidenced by 5,000 hours of jet fighter flight time and 32 years of active duty in the U.S. Air Force, that has propelled him to donate his time and energy to community service.
Whatever the motivation, Friends of the Scenic Drive is thankful for Carl's distinguished past military service and his current energetic support of the Scenic Drive. Energetic support that has been reinforced by his wife, Carole.
Carl and Carole man the "northern" registration
site for most Friends' litter pickup efforts. Carole dispenses the
coffee, donuts and safety vests to volunteers while Carl assigns
volunteers their sections of cleanup responsibility along the Scenic Drive.
Carole is also helping Friends publicize its inaugural Plant Parent program.
Most recently Carl enlisted volunteers to plant trees and shrubs around the northern Scenic Drive entry sign. He then joined those volunteers in working with the folks from Benhart Landscaping to complete the landscaping project, sponsored by Friends. At left, Carl (in red safety vest) works on landscaping project with other volunteers including Arnie Swensen (yellow vest).
When it comes to attacking litter and sign pollution on the Scenic Drive, Carl is a one man squadron. Almost every day, week in and week out, Carl takes on roadside litter - picking it up, bagging it, placing it in his SUV and unceremoniously depositing it in a dumpster. Volunteers at recent roadside cleanups have commented about how little litter had accumulated on the Scenic Drive since our last cleanup. The explanation is Carl Schneider's hard work during the intervening 6 weeks..
I'm sure Scottsdale residents and visitors enjoyed the absence of political signs on the Scenic Drive during the recent local, county, state and federal elections. While an unintelligable jumble of posts and signs dominated most local roadsides, the desert ambiance of the Scenic Drive stood tall. Carl made more than 60 telephones to encourage candidates to participate in our voluntary ban, which has now been a success for 8 elections. Obviously, the candidates listened to Carl.
After retirement from the Air Force, Carl was a very successful business executive for 20 years. Carole retired from an executive position in public relations. Carl and Carole enjoy traveling and have visited 7 countries and 22 states during the past two years.
In recognition of his military accomplishments Carl was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and six Air medals. Unfortunately Friends does not have any metals to award, but we can express our appreciation by awarding Carl and Carole our humble "Friends of the Month" award. Thank you.
