A Community Affair
Ames Mine Opens Doors to Public, Collects Donations for Needy
David Schaer and his son, JD, hit
the road hours before daybreak.
It was a 35-mile trek after all
and when they finished, they would
have to return for a full day of work
and school. They first saw the parking
lot; across the flat Iowa landscape, the
portable lights rigged especially for the
early morning shone for a mile around.
Only when they pulled in did they
realize they were the first in line.
“He’s got a math test at 8:30 this
morning, so we had to make sure we
could take this tour and get back in
time,” the father said with his hand
resting on the 11-year-old’s shoulder.
“I’m excited to see what it looks like
underground,” the sixth-grader said,
his smile energetic even in the face of
4 a.m. “I think there will probably be
a lot of dirt and a lot of rocks.”
The Schaers walked into the employee
building at Ames Mine for site specific
training and were soon joined by scores
of others. Minutes later, they were off,
the first to tour the underground during
the Ames Mine 2017 Van and Bonnie
Open House.
“We’ve been planning this for
about a year,” said Des Moines District
Production Manager Scotty Gerbes.
“There was a core group of about 10 or
12 of us who met bi-monthly and then
we brought in others as we moved
forward. In total, we have 78 volunteers
from across the division and another
12 just from here in the mine.”
Open to the general public, the late
September event is free and occurs
once every five years. It is designed
primarily as an educational opportunity
for neighbors both near and far,
but also serves as a charitable event
benefiting the local school district
and a pair of nonprofit organizations.
Activities this year were many and
included guided mine tours aboard a
school bus, equipment demonstrations,
fossil hunts and about a dozen
booths manned by Martin Marietta
staff and other professionals from
across the industry. A light breakfast
and lunch also were provided.
A highlight of the day was the radio
broadcast of “Van and Bonnie in the
Morning” from about 500 feet below
the surface. Van Harden, the show’s
co-host, said the broadcast location
stands out as one of the program’s
most unique.
“This is bizarre for most people,”
he said. “They don’t know this mine
is here and when they find out, they
realize that it’s unlike anything
they’ve seen before.”
Harden’s radio partner, Bonnie
Lucas, agreed.
Visitors to Ames’ Open House pour in well before sunrise.
Darwin Spieker
(right) and
Alex Peichl,
members of the
Iowa Granite
Mine Rescue
Team, speak
with Midwest
Division
President Bill
Gahan (left).
HR Generalist
Dyonne Hauswirth
speaks to an
Ames Mine visitor
about the careers
available at
Martin Marietta.
12 November/December 2017 The Conveyor | www.martinmarietta.com
PHOTO BY AREA PRODUCTION MANAGER RYAN BENDER
/www.martinmarietta.com