Staff Reports
The novel coronavirus has curtailed many activities since mid-March, but it failed to stop Jackson County United Way’s 24th annual Day of Caring.
The event, originally scheduled for May 12, had to be postponed until Friday due to the pandemic.
COVID-19 also put a damper on the number of projects completed and led to fewer volunteers than in the past.
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A total of 107 people volunteered for 26 projects on this year’s day of service, held on what was also the National Day of Service. Four projects were scheduled to be completed either before or after Friday.
Last year, Jackson County United Way set a record for Day of Caring with 1,621 volunteers (284 youth and 1,337 adults) completing 173 projects throughout the county.
Since Sept. 11, 2002, thousands of Americans have come together annually to foster goodwill among people during the National Day of Service and Remembrance. Family members of those who died in the 9/11 attacks wanted to find a way to honor the sacrifice of those who were lost and to celebrate those who united in response to the tragedy.
“This is a day we can collectively change just a little piece of our world,” said Karen Brooks, co-chair for this year’s Day of Caring. “We all care for our fellow man, and we all can do something to help each other.”
Day of Caring co-chair Ron Duncan agreed.
“In offering help to those who need it, we create the opportunity to pay it forward, making Jackson County a better place to live and raise our families, to be proud of where we live by the direct impact we can make,” Duncan said. “We don’t just change the way things look. We change the way we look at things.”
United Way carefully monitored safety guidelines from state and local health officials in determining to proceed with this year’s event.
While most projects were accepted, volunteers were not able to complete indoor projects and had to be able to practice social distancing to ensure the safety of the volunteers and project hosts.
A safety plan was submitted to and approved by the county health department to ensure the volunteers and project sites would be compliant with state and local guidelines.
Each volunteer group of 25 people or less was provided with hand sanitizer, face masks and disinfectant wipes, and in most instances, volunteers brought their own equipment or tools.
Organizers of the event again reached out to senior citizens in the area who often are not able to complete much of the work on their own.
“We know many seniors in our community just aren’t able to go out and pick up sticks or clean out their flower beds or apply a fresh coat of paint to a porch. We have volunteers who will be ready to do these projects for our seniors,” said Bonita Dobbs, United Way program manager. “We want to be known as a place where we work together for solutions to take care of neighbors and generations.”
Serving seniors
Kristen Steward lives in a quiet neighborhood on the southeast side of Seymour. She is one of the seniors who benefited from this year’s Day of Caring.
“I think it’s fantastic,” said Steward, who is disabled.
She hasparticipated in Day of Caring for many years now, and volunteers always come to her house to do some of the work she is unable to complete herself.
Brianne Miller and her 12-year-old daughter, Jada Miller, spent Friday morning pulling weeds from flower beds at Steward’s home.
“Our first time was last year,” Brianne said of their participation in Day of Caring. “Of course, Jada likes getting a day off of school. She’s not scared to get a little dirty.”
Brianne said Day of Caring is a good way to help out the community.
“… and I think it’s good to show my daughter it’s good to be involved in volunteering,” she said. “Volunteering doesn’t hurt anybody, and we’re helping out some seniors today.”
Jada, who attends Seymour Middle School, said community service is something that is important to her, and she enjoys helping others.
Brianne’s mother, Kathy Brown, volunteered to join the Millers with their project for a couple of reasons.
One, because she had some equipment they needed for the work.
“ … and she needed help,” Brown said of her daughter.
Steward’s house was the first of two the Millers and Brown planned to tackle Friday.
Helping the homeless
Centra Credit Union was among the businesses participating in Friday’s Day of Caring.
A group of employees from the Seymour branch worked at Anchor House Family Assistance Center and Pantry.
Sehrish Sangamkar said volunteering aligns with the company’s motto of “People helping people.”
Sangamkar was joined by four other Centra employees, Tammy Hercamp, Katie Hall, Madison Darlage and Amanda Johnson.
“We are doing what we call a ‘service September’ for work, and to start with, at the beginning of the month, our team at the Seymour branch collected some food donations that was only donated by the team,” Sangamkar said. “Members donated the money, then we reached out to Anchor House to see what they were in need of and went to the store and got what they needed.”
When Centra’s community involvement officer asked the team what they wanted to do for a Day of Caring service project, they picked Anchor House.
On their list of things to do was restaining two picnic tables and the swing set, power washing the fence, pulling weeds and picking up around the shelter yard.
“They provide a vast majority of things, like housing to families who are trying to get back on their feet. They are providing the food pantry,” Sangamkar said. “I volunteer at CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), as well, so I work with a lot of families who are trying to get back on their feet, and that’s where it all starts. They don’t have to worry about ‘What am I going to do, I don’t have a place to live, I don’t have food to eat,’ especially the kids.”
After Friday, the team is going to continue to help Anchor House by helping stock the pantry, too.
Megan Cherry, executive director of Anchor House, said she was very grateful for the Centra Credit Union volunteers’ help.
“Their help today makes our yard look nice for our families and children that live with us and are a part of our program,” Cherry said. “We really appreciate their hard work.”
Hercamp said she was volunteering because it looked like Anchor House needed the help.
“It’s a good place to help people get back on their feet and just give them a little boost, so we wanted to come help spruce things up a little bit for them,” she said.
Darlage said Anchor House provides needed services to the community and helps give kids a life they might not have being homeless.
“Kids on the street might not have a place to have a picnic or ride bikes, so it’s good to give back to the community,” she said. “Anchor House makes sure these children and families can feel at home, and it’s a temporary safe place for them to do that.”
Painting the park{p dir=”ltr”}Leadership Jackson County teamed up with volunteers from Schneck Medical Center in Seymour to provide a fresh coat of paint to the Medora town park on Friday.
The work comes as part of the group’s renovation project at the park.
Previously, the group raised more than $10,000 in donations for the project and received a $9,500 grant from the Owen-Carr Township Community Fund through the Community Foundation of Jackson County.
That money went to adding a little library and other features at the park, such as benches and tables.
Much of the equipment in the park received new paint, including the swing set, a large concrete block near the middle of the park, both basketball hoops and even the surrounding chain link fence.
Chastity Johnson of Brownstown is an employee of Schneck Medical Center. She volunteered her time for the project and said she feels a sense of pride for helping in the community.
“I just like outside work. I like to help things look better and just for the kids of Medora. It’s kind of a place where they don’t have much over here, so the kids need something nice to come and play without getting in trouble,” Johnson said.
“It’s always nice to be able to help someone,” she added. “I think Schneck as a whole is about community, so we try to make every community that we serve better with health care or anything else that we do.”
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Sponsors for this year’s Day of Caring were Bob Poynter of Seymour, Brownstown Hardware, Centra Credit Union, Fraternal Order of Eagles Seymour Aerie No. 655, Jackson County Bank, Kocolene/Ranger Enterprise LLC, Medora Speed Wash, Moore and Shepherd Insurance, Skaggs Builders Inc., Smith Law Services, State Bank of Medora, Tamara Hiester-Stout, DDS, The Royal Group Seymour and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1925.
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