Up to 1,800 volunteers of all ages will scatter throughout the Columbus area today to carry out more than 90 different projects — all intended to improve the community.
It is the most ambitious “Day of Service” schedule since the United Way of Bartholomew County began the program six years ago, said Joy King, director of United Way’s Volunteer Action Center.
In addition to employees from 16 companies, there will also be four different schools and 29 nonprofit organizations sending out personnel to work on the projects, King said.
Companies and organizations, from the Dorel Juvenile Group to Columbus Regional Health, will allow their employees to spend part or all of today repairing or upgrading public facilities, social service agencies, and even individual homes occupied by those who can no longer perform the upkeep themselves.
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The “United Way Day of Service” began one day early for a 90-year-old Columbus widow, when a dozen volunteers from Toyota Material Handling North America in Columbus arrived at her home at 7:30 a.m. Thursday to begin a myriad of projects.
A decision was made to start working a day early at Barbara Shumaker’s home on 25th Street, just west of Jordan Drive, because the projects were expected to be labor-intensive, United Way employee Uriah Pierce said.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see this,” said Shumaker as a new front porch and wheelchair ramp began to materialize in front of her residence. Some of the volunteers also cleared out gutters, trimmed trees and performed other landscape work.
While she’s lived in the same home since 1964, Shumaker admits it has been difficult to maintain the property since her husband, retired Cummins Inc. tool designer Halbert Shumaker, died in the summer of 2003.
Although a few employees of Cummins Inc. were on the scene, most volunteers who worked on the Shumaker property are Toyota Material Handling employees.
One Toyota volunteer, Sean Dublan, says he’s proud to work for a company that genuinely cares about the community where they are located, and makes the effort to improve it.
“In this case, we’re helping to keep a woman in her house who cannot afford to pay to have this type of maintenance done,” Dublan said.
Construction of the porch and ramp was supervised by a group of retirees who have undertaken similar projects for Housing Partnerships, Inc. and Thrive Alliance for several years.
Over the past eight years, this group has built more than 100 wheelchair ramps in five south central Indiana counties, member Don Meier said. Besides the home on 25th Street, another ramp will be built at a home near Mt. Healthy Elementary School this week, he said.
Significant projects planned for today include extensive upgrades at the Dunn Stadium complex south of Garden City, the cleanup of the People Trail connecting Mill Race and Noblitt Parks, and deck cleaning and staining at the Foundation for Youth playground area.
But the most uplifting “Day of Service” project is likely the one being undertaken by students of Clifty Creek Elementary School today.
Every class from the school located off County Road 50N will send students to eight different neighborhoods, King said. Their job is to pass out cards with messages designed to lift the spirits of each person who receives them, she said.
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For the past six years, the United Way Day of Service has kicked off the annual fundraising campaign of the United Way of Bartholomew County.
It was originally initiated to take the place of a kickoff luncheon, with the intention of emphasizing the individual programs and services provided by local United Way social service agencies.
Although the Day of Service is only scheduled for one day in September, the event has inspired some companies or organizations to perform volunteer work on a regular basis throughout the entire year.
Volunteer hours on the day over its six-year history equal an investment of about $1 million, according to organizers. That adds up to 10,000 volunteers logging more than 40,000 hours of service in the community.
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The United Way of Bartholomew County does urge all local residents to sign up as volunteers for the annual Day of Service.
However, the sign-up deadline is usually one week before the event.
For more information about the Day of Service, go online at visit uwbarthco.org. You can also email Joy King, director of United Way’s Volunteer Action Center, at [email protected].
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