Volunteers take on dozens of projects

Hundreds help local nonprofits as part of United Way effort

Michelle Renninger and Kathy Jacobs, real estate agents with Century 21 Alliance Group, ran through a list of projects they’ve tackled through Day of Caring, the volunteer effort spearheaded by the United Way of Porter County.

The list includes exterior painting, window washing, weeding, bringing lunch to senior citizens and collecting golf balls.

“That was a little scavenger hunt,” Renninger said of the effort to retrieve golf balls lodged in the ground at Creekside Golf Course in Valparaiso. “It was fun.”

Friday, the task at hand was painting the metal frame that will be come fencing at Valparaiso’s new dog park at 2902 N. Campbell St. Volunteers dipped sponge brushes in trays of black paint and were encouraged to use their hands, in rubber gloves, to paint the posts if they wanted to.

“It’s a great thing to give back and spend the day together,” Jacobs said.

In all, 576 volunteers helped 34 nonprofits complete 68 projects, said Kim Olesker, the United Way’s chief executive officer, as volunteers gathered at Urschel Pavilion before heading out to help out.

Todd Leeth, a local attorney serving as 2019 United Way campaign cabinet chair, said the agency has been working “around the clock” to assist five households from a Union Street apartment in the College Hill neighborhood who were displaced last month after their building was deemed uninhabitable because of a bedbug and cockroach infestation, as well as eight households displaced after an apartment fire a few days later.

“That’s just the gap that we fill. That’s the role United Way plays. When there’s an emergency, we step up,” he said.

More than 20 volunteers from Century 21 Alliance Group and Vale Park Animal Hospital worked to paint the fence frame.

“It’s a beautiful day. It should be a good day for painting,” Dan McGuire, facilities director for Valparaiso Parks, told the volunteers, adding that depending on how quickly the paint dried, they should be able to layer on two coats.

The dog park, at the former site of Clifford Stone and Material, is expected to open in November, and will include restrooms, an area to rinse off dogs’ paws, shelters in the small and large dog areas, and other amenities, McGuire said.

The park also will include jumps, tubes and other agility equipment, as well as two fire hydrants donated by the firefighters union, he added.

The dog park will have a membership fee to help cover the cost of maintenance and upkeep, McGuire said, and the application will include a dog’s health records. Having volunteers from the real estate agency and the animal hospital was “a great community buy-in,” McGuire said, because Jeanne Sommer, owner of Century 21 Alliance group and co-founder of Lakeshore PAWS, and veterinarian Brent Lakia are on the committee for the dog park.

“It also helps save resources on us and on our staff,” so they can be used for other park department projects, McGuire said. “It’s a great project for some volunteers to do, to paint the fence.”

Other projects throughout the county included trail cleaning at Coffee Creek Watershed Conservancy in Chesterton, and landscaping at an Opportunity Enterprises property in Portage.

Amy Lavalley is a freelancer.