Story and Photos by Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
December 5, 2014

The secret? Brett Schoffner likes dirt. So much so that he’s almost single handedly transformed the woods in Kessler Park that border the Cliff Drive State Scenic ByWay from a tangled, honey-suckle choked hillside in to a complex network of trials, some highly technical, fit for walking, running or biking.

So when he got the call from Historic Northeast resident Bryan Stalder to meet him at the Concourse last Monday morning for a TV interview with Fox 4’s Kathy Quinn to discuss improvements along Cliff Drive, he didn’t think much of it. He’d done this before and it would be the same old, same old, say a few words for the 2-minute sound bite, he begrudgingly accepted the invitation. He arrived astride his normal mode of transportation, his bicycle, towing a makeshift trailer loaded with a leaf blower and small garden implements.

But the surprise was on Schoffner. Quinn you see heads up Fox 4’s Pay it Forward series, rewarding people around the Metro who selflessly give of themselves to their community. “Brett is so deserving of this” said Stalder. “He’s a one man wrecking crew down on the drive and it looks fantastic largely because of his ongoing efforts”. Quinn, then presented Schoffner three crisp new $100 bills for his efforts. “These are for you and on behalf of the community, we’d like to pay it forward to you” said Quinn. Schoffner was speechless. “I just really wanted to make a difference along Cliff Drive” he said. “This is pretty amazing.

In closing, if you know anything about Brett Schoffner, you’ll know that selflessness is part of his genetic makeup. That $300 he got from Fox 4? Yeah, he took his staff at the Rosedale Development Association to lunch at McCoy’s Public House in Westport then split the remainder between the Pendleton Heights Neighborhood, the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood , The Independence Avenue CID and the Indian Mound neighborhood. Truly payin’ it forward.