Traverse City Record-Eagle

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    Day Off Caring
September 11, 2009

Reporter learns new skills on Day of Caring

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE

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Editor's note: Record-Eagle reporter Lindsay VanHulle on Thursday joined hundreds of Traverse City residents who volunteered to help with assorted community chores for the 14th United Way of Northwest Michigan Day of Caring. VanHulle's account of her first brush with painting follows:

TRAVERSE CITY -- For the record: I don't know much about common household repairs.

Anyone who knows me is probably chuckling right now, because they have seen the level of my ineptitude. I don't tear out tile or attempt to fix my own plumbing. I assembled a desk by myself in college, only to find out I'd set the drawer off track. It still sticks.

I joke with my father about how there's some sort of "man manual" that taught him how to do everything, from oiling door hinges to wiring a room for electricity, with what looks like zero effort.

He not long ago painted two bedrooms in his house. Until Thursday, I'd never painted anything that wasn't an art project.

I pulled on old clothes Thursday and gathered supplies to paint a new ticketing room at Mt. Holiday Ski & Recreation Area, joining more than 20 Sara Lee employees who volunteered at the lodge on the 14th United Way of Northwest Michigan Day of Caring.

By the time I left, I had covered nearly three of the four walls with a fresh coat of white paint and used a brush to smooth the edges. A cook at Sara Lee worked from the top, filling in spots above my reach.

Elsewhere on the grounds, volunteers scraped away old paint, did yard work and split wood before the upcoming ski season.

They were among roughly 80 teams of local citizens to help out on the Day of Caring, nearly 800 people, United Way leaders said. The event aims to match volunteers with nonprofits that need help completing certain projects.

Other participating nonprofits included Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan, the Grand Traverse Heritage Center and TART Trails Inc., to name a few.

Many volunteers are from local businesses and are given a day away from work to spend on a project.

Without help, many needs would not be met quickly, if at all, said Rick VanTongeren, Mt. Holiday's executive director.

"There's not enough time in the day, and we can't afford to hire enough people to come in and do it right," he said. "It's nice, because you just point and away they go."

Dale Jackowski's blue T-shirt was streaked with various paint colors from other Day of Caring projects. He has volunteered for at least eight years, and spent part of Thursday helping me paint the room.

He typically works third shift as a cook at Sara Lee and sleeps during the day, so he doesn't keep hours that allow him to volunteer regularly. The Day of Caring is his chance.

"You can see the difference like that," he said, snapping his fingers, as he described seeing a finished product. Even when the work is behind the scenes, he added, "You can't see it, but you know you've done it."

It's a good feeling. In high school, I worked with special needs children, sorted clothes at the Father Fred Foundation and served a holiday breakfast to families at the City Opera House.

Now that I cover nonprofits for the Record-Eagle, I have not been a regular volunteer, so I was eager to write about the Day of Caring from a firsthand perspective.

VanTongeren seemed pleased with the results and grateful for the effort. I don't know if I'll ever see the room I painted in use. But it will be, one day, and at the very least I can say that I did it.

My parents will be proud, once they recover from the surprise.

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