By Susan Christian Goulding / Orange County Register

Originally published in Orange County Register.

Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones marveled at the elaborate front-yard fort constructed around a towering tree on West Street.

“Would you look at that?” Jones, 50, mused about the multilevel playhouse. “I wonder how many times I’ve driven by it without noticing. You see so much more on foot.”

That’s the whole idea of these morning treks, said Sue Parks, CEO of OC United Way. Last year, she walked at least five miles in each of Orange County’s 34 cities.

“How better to get to know the needs of communities?” Parks said.

She’s back at it, although with a more refined goal for 2019 – trimming the itinerary to nine main cities served by United Way.

On Saturday, Aug. 10, Parks led about 30 colleagues and community members along busy thoroughfares of Garden Grove – starting and ending at Santiago High on Trask Avenue. Hikers stopped briefly outside two more schools to hear about programs there for at-risk students.

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