By Linda Ricklef
Chair for the 50th Anniversary Day of Service
The Wellness Collaborative has two great volunteering opportunities in the coming weeks aimed to help the less fortunate in our area.
Day of Service – Saturday, October 1st
In appreciation for Big Canoe’s 50 wonderful years, we are giving back to our local communities by providing improvements to the Pickens and Dawson Department of Family and Child Services, which assist families in distress and children who are abused or neglected. These organizations operate in spartan industrial facilities, which we want to make friendlier and more welcoming to the families and children they serve. This event is sponsored by the Wellness Collaborative in support of its mission to assist neighbors not only in Big Canoe but in the surrounding communities.
In Pickens, we will update their outside area with picnic tables and canopies donated by Home Depot. We will also landscape and upgrade their indoor playroom. Also, John Feight and the Foundation for Hospital Art, which most often creates artwork for medical facilities, will be donating beautiful paintings for the entry and hallway. Already completed is a new shower head/sprayer donated by Brian Boje and installed by Scott Parish Plumbing. Peggy Bussert from the recent Leadership Big Canoe class is managing improvements at this facility.
An example of a quilt provided by Big Canoe Quilters.
In Dawson, we will be installing an outside gathering area, with picnic tables made by the Big Canoe Woodworkers; with canopies donated by Home Depot; and doing additional landscaping and ground cover work. We will also paint three interior bathrooms and create a calming room, with fresh paint, new furnishings, and quilts provided by the Big Canoe Quilters. John and Hospital Art and the Big Canoe Chapel are also providing two beautiful pieces inspired by works by Vincent Van Gogh. Terry Lamberski, also from Leadership Big Canoe, is spearheading the work at this facility.
We need volunteers for Oct. 1, including:
Painters – for interior rooms and to paint a chest
Landscapers – to install plants, prepare ground and lay pea gravel
Helpers – to install furnishings, assist with outdoor projects, etc.
Our day will start at 9 a.m. with the aim of completing work by the early afternoon.
Day of Service Paint Day – Saturday, September 24th, Wildcat Pavilion
John Feight and Hospital Art invite the community to help paint canvases that will be prepared for the Day of Service. This is not to be confused with the Van Gogh pieces being painted at the Broyles Community Center on Sept. 10, though a couple of those pieces from that event will be donated to the Day of Service.
Registration is not required to participate in this event. No art experience is necessary, and aprons and supplies will be provided. The completed canvases will be hung in the Pickens DFCS facility.
Painting will be from 9 a.m. to noon on the date listed above.
For more information, contact Linda Ricklef at lricklef@gmail.com.
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