Volunteer Laren Sweetser shovels and scrapes landscaping rocks Wednesday at the Community Free Clinic on Mill Street in Hagerstown. She was one of hundreds of volunteers across Washington County participating in the United Way Day of Caring. (By Kevin G. Gilbert, Staff Photographer) |
"This ole house is a-gettin' shaky
This ole house is a-gettin' old
This ole house lets in the rain
This ole house lets in the cold"
— This Ole House, by Stuart Hamblen
Things aren't quite that bad at the Virginia Avenue home where Kathleen Shifler has lived for more than six decades, but at 85 it's a bit harder for her to keep up the place.
"Last year, it was (a crew from) Hub Labels. The living room was paneled and they painted it white for me. They painted the fence out back white for me," said Shifler, who was waiting for a United Way Day of Caring crew to install a railing on her back stoop Wednesday.
"I just can't do steps anymore ... You don't know how I appreciate this," she said.
A battalion-size army of volunteers — about 900 of them — was deployed around Washington County for the 20th annual Day of Caring, tackling about 70 projects, according to Executive Director Leah Gayman.
"We have a few basics the United Way focuses on," Gayman said as she painted a mural in the women's section of the REACH Center on West Franklin Street.
One of those areas is keeping senior citizens like Shifler and the disabled in their homes by doing repairs, cleaning, and installing aides such as railings and ramps to make the homes safer and more livable.
Another part of United Way's mission is helping other nonprofits, offsetting some of their costs for repairs and maintenance, Gayman said.
Which helps explain why people who normally work at banking and accounting were outside the Community Free Clinic on Mill Street pushing shovels instead of pens or computer keys.
"I've probably been doing this about five years," Holly Miller, team leader for Citigroup, said at the clinic. "When this came up on the list and it was outdoor work, I said, 'Count me in,'" she said.
Under a cloudless blue sky, Miller was pushing a wheelbarrow of landscaping stone, while other Citi workers and volunteers from the accounting firm Albright, Crumbacker, Moul & Itell were wrestling with shrubbery, laying down landscaping paper and shoveling stone.
"It's a tremendous help, especially for a nonprofit," said Adam Roberson, the program manager at the clinic. Last year, the staff at the clinic was helping another nonprofit, the Washington County Community Action Council, with a project at its building, he said.
"Day of Caring is one of our favorite events. We've participated in it and we've been the recipient of it," Roberson said.
"One nonprofit helping another nonprofit" was how Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County Board President Verna Brown described what her crew was doing, painting rooms at the county's Child Advocacy Center.
Tracy Mumma and Deborah Gober were in one of the center's exam rooms painting a Dr. Seuss character on the wall.
"We mentor kids, so we did a Cat in the Hat theme because that's warm and inviting," Gober said.
A group of 14 FirstData Merchant Services volunteers was at the REACH Center waiting to deliver Meals on Wheels Wednesday morning. Finding they had some extra time on their hands, they went upstairs to the offices of the Washington County Commission on Aging where other volunteers were moving equipment and cleaning offices.
Sean McWilliams, a product manager, was the team leader for the FirstData volunteers at REACH, but said the company had about 200 volunteers donating their time to the Day of Caring.
"It takes more than the several thousand hours of service these people were volunteering to make the Day of Caring a success," Gayman said. She estimated there were also donations of money, materials and in-kind services equivalent to about $17,000.
"Money and volunteers are the lifeblood of what United Way does," Gayman said.
The day also builds relationships between the volunteers and those they help. Gayman recalled a disabled woman whom she came to know through working on her house a few years ago.
"You just fall in love with them and you keep coming back to help with whatever they need, not just with Day of Caring, but with anything," she said.
FirstData was the title sponsor for this year's Day of Caring with Volvo Powertrain supplying the Live United T-shirts for volunteers.
This ole house is a-gettin' old
This ole house lets in the rain
This ole house lets in the cold"
— This Ole House, by Stuart Hamblen
Things aren't quite that bad at the Virginia Avenue home where Kathleen Shifler has lived for more than six decades, but at 85 it's a bit harder for her to keep up the place.
"Last year, it was (a crew from) Hub Labels. The living room was paneled and they painted it white for me. They painted the fence out back white for me," said Shifler, who was waiting for a United Way Day of Caring crew to install a railing on her back stoop Wednesday.
"I just can't do steps anymore ... You don't know how I appreciate this," she said.
A battalion-size army of volunteers — about 900 of them — was deployed around Washington County for the 20th annual Day of Caring, tackling about 70 projects, according to Executive Director Leah Gayman.
"We have a few basics the United Way focuses on," Gayman said as she painted a mural in the women's section of the REACH Center on West Franklin Street.
One of those areas is keeping senior citizens like Shifler and the disabled in their homes by doing repairs, cleaning, and installing aides such as railings and ramps to make the homes safer and more livable.
Another part of United Way's mission is helping other nonprofits, offsetting some of their costs for repairs and maintenance, Gayman said.
Which helps explain why people who normally work at banking and accounting were outside the Community Free Clinic on Mill Street pushing shovels instead of pens or computer keys.
"I've probably been doing this about five years," Holly Miller, team leader for Citigroup, said at the clinic. "When this came up on the list and it was outdoor work, I said, 'Count me in,'" she said.
Under a cloudless blue sky, Miller was pushing a wheelbarrow of landscaping stone, while other Citi workers and volunteers from the accounting firm Albright, Crumbacker, Moul & Itell were wrestling with shrubbery, laying down landscaping paper and shoveling stone.
"It's a tremendous help, especially for a nonprofit," said Adam Roberson, the program manager at the clinic. Last year, the staff at the clinic was helping another nonprofit, the Washington County Community Action Council, with a project at its building, he said.
"Day of Caring is one of our favorite events. We've participated in it and we've been the recipient of it," Roberson said.
"One nonprofit helping another nonprofit" was how Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County Board President Verna Brown described what her crew was doing, painting rooms at the county's Child Advocacy Center.
Tracy Mumma and Deborah Gober were in one of the center's exam rooms painting a Dr. Seuss character on the wall.
"We mentor kids, so we did a Cat in the Hat theme because that's warm and inviting," Gober said.
A group of 14 FirstData Merchant Services volunteers was at the REACH Center waiting to deliver Meals on Wheels Wednesday morning. Finding they had some extra time on their hands, they went upstairs to the offices of the Washington County Commission on Aging where other volunteers were moving equipment and cleaning offices.
Sean McWilliams, a product manager, was the team leader for the FirstData volunteers at REACH, but said the company had about 200 volunteers donating their time to the Day of Caring.
"It takes more than the several thousand hours of service these people were volunteering to make the Day of Caring a success," Gayman said. She estimated there were also donations of money, materials and in-kind services equivalent to about $17,000.
"Money and volunteers are the lifeblood of what United Way does," Gayman said.
The day also builds relationships between the volunteers and those they help. Gayman recalled a disabled woman whom she came to know through working on her house a few years ago.
"You just fall in love with them and you keep coming back to help with whatever they need, not just with Day of Caring, but with anything," she said.
FirstData was the title sponsor for this year's Day of Caring with Volvo Powertrain supplying the Live United T-shirts for volunteers.
