Volunteers Share Their Time To Make The Community Better

A fresh coat of paint was applied to New Hope during the United Way Day of Caring.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – On the day a nation remembers its fallen, a group of volunteers have taken up paint brushes and push brooms to help make Oskaloosa just a little bit better.

Day of Caring is a one-day event that matches up local volunteers with needs at nonprofits and individual homes. The event is a national event hosted by United Way.

Out at the Lacey Recreation Complex, volunteers from MidWestOne took on the challenge of painting one of the larger outbuildings at the facility. A cold and biting wind during the morning made the warmth of a coffee break all the better. The 13 volunteers came in two shifts during the day. The Paint was provided by a Paint Iowa Beautiful grant.

Gatton Realty also worked at the complex by giving of their time in cleaning and prepping the donated sports equipment that was collected during MCRF’s “Play It Forward” program at the ‘Old Shoe Game’.

Out at Nelson Pioneer Farm, volunteers were preparing the facility for the upcoming Fall Festival.

These projects are just but an example of the many volunteers who took part in the day. The Mahaska Young Professionals tackled the Y Camp at Lake Keomah, while others, such as a group from Bank Iowa, helped to prepare materials for United Ways fall campaign. New Hope got a fresh coat of paint and others descended upon private residential homes to take care of some much needed repairs.

Mahaska County United Way Director Amy Langdon talked about the day. “I think it was an especially great year for Day of Caring due to the kind of projects we had. They were things that really can have an impact on the people we were serving. We fixed a hole in the floor of an individual’s home. It was really a hazard. She was an older widow who didn’t have a lot of money to make any improvements. But a group of skilled volunteers from Cargill went there, fixed the hole, fixed her sink, did a few projects around the house. And after only a few hours, she has a much safer and functional place to live. It really struck me how a little bit of time can provide such a blessing to someone in need.”

There was about 120 volunteers on Thursday Langdon said. “Another 25 from Musco will be taking care of several projects at Imagine the Possibilities on September 18.”