Ashburn Residents Turn Out for Statewide Day of Service

Hundreds of volunteers from Loudoun County answered the call from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell to make Sept. 24, 2011, a statewide day of service.

The governor announced the day of service in a proclamation on the state’s website.

Recent natural disasters and economic hardships prompted the call for Virginians to help improve the lives of those around them. McDonnell’s proclamation credits the for establishing a welfare program to provided needed services. As part of the program, the church encourages members to dedicate a day of service each year. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the creation of the church's welfare program, and locally, Sept. 24 was selected for a coordinated day of service to honor the milestone and help the community.

“A number of individuals with the church reached out to the administration about this initiative,” said McDonnell spokesman Jeff Caldwell. “The Governor was pleased to support the day of service, as it is a great way for all Virginians, of all faiths, to give back to their communities. He congratulates the church on the 75th anniversary of its welfare program.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – about 14 million strong worldwides – boasts about 4,500 members in Loudoun County from Ashburn, Purcellville, Hamilton, Leesburg, Sterling and other communities. Members pulled weeds, painted buildings, repaired bridges, picked up trash, sewed receiving blankets for Inova Loudoun Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and worked on a Habitat for Humanity dwelling.

In Ashburn alone, hundreds of volunteers picked up trash along Ashburn Village Boulevard and Gloucester Parkway, repaired bridges, and numbered light poles in Ashburn Farm. And many others, including small children, made greeting cards and placemats for the recipients of Meals on Wheels.

Kari Bennion, her husband, Jeff, and two young sons all gave several hours of their time.

Garrett Bennion, 7, made placemats and said he was excited to help clean up Ashburn Village by picking up trash.

Terri Shea helped organize the cleanup of Ashburn Village and coordinated the placemat decorations for Meals on Wheels. She said more than 100 people worked on placemats, and simple task that will go a long way.

“A lot of these recipients are shut-ins and they don’t get a lot of interaction with children,” Shea said. “It didn’t require much for those kids to color a placemat, but the impact for those who get them is far reaching.”

Shea also organized a gift drive for a nonprofit organization called Birthday Blessings. Volunteers on Saturday wrapped dozens of presents for kids and teens who otherwise might not receive a birthday present.

The wrapped gifts were then taken to an interfaith church in Reston for distribution.

In Leesburg, about 100 people helped the Sycolin Creek PTA build a retaining wall near a playground for special needs children.

Catherine Williams, a resident of Ashburn took her three children to Claude Moore Park in Sterling Saturday morning to participate in activities at the Heritage Farm Museum.

“We teach our children to serve in the smallest of ways with their friends and with their school and this is an opportunity to see how a large group of people can have an impact,” Williams said.

Zane Kerby brought his 13-year-old son Isaac to help paint the barn at the farm museum.

“It’s important to start a culture of service early,” Kerby said. “I’m hoping doing things like this will instill in my children a culture of first realizing how blessed they are and second how important it is to take care of others and do things that are outside the scope of their own selves.”

The farm museum utilizes interactive displays to teach children and adults about Loudoun County agricultural roots. It has a full-time staff of two and depends on volunteers.

Ashburn resident Dale Neuffer organized the volunteer effort at the museum, where more than 160 volunteers mulched and weeded flower beds, painted walls in the horse barn, applied touch up paint to displays, cleaned up, and made more than 900 greeting cards and placemats for Meals on Wheels, all in about four hours time. The group contributed well over 600 hours of service at the museum alone.

Christine Love, the museum’s co-director, said the volunteer hours were greatly appreciated.

“If we could put it monetarily as to how much each volunteer hour is worth, the last time I checked it was $21.00 an hour and I think we have over 100 people here,” she said. “I mean, that is saving us a huge amount of money. As far as work goes, weeks, honestly weeks, of work with the small staff we have here and trying to coordinate single volunteers to do what’s being done. Its weeks of work, I‘m feeling so very, very grateful right now.”

Neuffer said service activities are very rewarding.

“The good is in the hearts of the people who get to do the service,” he said. “When you do it you always go home feeling better for doing it.”

The church estimated that volunteers worked 2,000 to 4,000 service hours throughout Loudoun County.

To learn more about volunteering at the museum, visit the website.