The United Way Estevan’s Day of Caring is right around the corner, and the event’s committee already has much of it organized.
The day when volunteers help people and organizations with work that needs to be done around and inside their properties and just spend time visiting is scheduled for May 29.
Wendy Gustafson, who is the chairperson for the Day of Caring committee, said that despite a bit slower start, by May 16 they had everything in place for another great day in the community.
“At our cutoff time we had over 40 projects, that’s exciting. And we always have a few more coming at the last minute. We are over 40 right now and I think that we have something like 160 volunteers…Everything is coming together really, really well,” Gustafson said.
She noted they usually get some last minute volunteers and projects, and they never say no to anyone.
“We never have too many (volunteers), we always find jobs for people. We even had some people on the Day of Caring show up and ask if (they) could come and do (some projects)... We never have a cutoff for numbers… We are always are grateful for anyone who is willing to give their time.”
This year the committee has a wide assortment of projects to be accomplished on the Day of Caring. Volunteers will be doing anything from yard work, including garden seeding and rototilling, to windows washing and oven cleaning. They also will help with fencing, painting, planting flowers, cutting grass and things that seniors and others often can’t physically do by themselves.
Some volunteers also will dedicate time to helping and visiting at different senior facilities.
“Some people are not able to do the physical labour or it’s hard for them to get up on things, but they want to be involved. So they come … to the long-term care or to the regional nursing home. And they just spend some time visiting. And if it’s a nice day they take people outside and maybe watch the work that’s going on because we do work at the regional nursing home, we work at Creighton Lodge, we work at St. Joseph’s long-term care and at the hospital there,” Gustafson said.
The hope is that they won’t have too many projects coming after the deadline because it takes some time to schedule everything and ascribe volunteers to projects, but they never decline any projects no matter what time they come in.
“There is a little bit of a process, but it works really good. We have a system and we all get together and it works out good. We always managed to cover every project.”
There is something for everyone. Some volunteers will be helping with a barbeque at the Alliance Church, from 11:30 a.m.-1p.m. People who have projects are invited to come with their volunteers and have lunch together.
“It’s a free barbecue, and we encourage everyone if they want to pop in at their lunch. We do have a donation basket, but it is a free barbecue,” said Gustafson.
The Day of Caring is a way to give back to the generous community and also recognize individuals and businesses supporting United Way’s Telethon.
“It’s a wonderful thing. We have people in this area and all around that are so generous when we are doing our telethon, and they are so generous to give. So we just thought it was really important … to give back to them. And it’s one way we can show them how much we appreciate it,” said Gustafson.
She also spread her gratitude to all volunteers.
“The United Way just wants to say thank you so much to everyone for their volunteering and their time that they give us because we as a board could not do this on our own. We only can do this with the support of our community.”
