Volunteers paint, garden and care on Make A Difference Day

For Release: Oct. 25, 2010

With smiles on their faces and paint brushes and garden tools in their hands, teams of volunteers descended upon Community Renewal target neighborhoods in Shreveport and Bossier City for the 2010 Make A Difference Day.

“I wanted to be a part of this. You feel good when you give back and this brings a lot of people together,” said Kathy Nidey, quality control administrator for UOP, a Honeywell company.

“I’m impressed with what I am seeing here. One person can’t do everything, but working together we can make a big difference.”

The UOP volunteers painted the porch on a CRI Friendship House and added stain and sealant to the deck and pergola structure which they built late last year in Shreveport’s Allendale neighborhood. The original project was funded through a $5,000 Honeywell Hometown Solutions corporate grant.

Around the corner, students from LSU-Shreveport and Captain Shreve High School painted a building that will one day become a neighborhood store and office for The Fuller Center for Housing. And in the Barksdale Annex neighborhood in Bossier City, volunteers from Realty Executives worked in the flower and vegetable gardens at a Friendship House there.

Nationwide, more than three million volunteers gave back to their communities in hundreds of service projects across the nation. The annual event is sponsored by USA Weekend magazine, the NBA and the NBA Players Association.

“We are fortunate enough to have secure employment here and we want to be a good corporate neighbor. We help one person at a time and then we help the whole community,” said Bill Capon, plant manager.

“Improving the lives of other people and seeing others enjoy this is what it’s all about. We want these kids to have a safe place to enjoy their life.”

On a day that started dark and cloudy with threats of rain, even the sky smiled upon the volunteers as they worked. Clouds parted by late morning, revealing blue sky and sunshine. The Women of Community Renewal provided lunch for the crew inside one of the Friendship Houses.

In the Barksdale Annex neighborhood, the site of many volunteer projects over the past few years, the beautification of that area continued with Make A Difference Day. About 10 volunteers from Realty Executives helped with landscaping around a Friendship House and put mulch and chicken wire around a vegetable garden for a nearby Haven House leader.

“We want to give back and we have chosen Community Renewal by helping neighbors we improve lives and the safety of neighborhoods. Because we are real estate professionals, we want to help neighborhoods remain viable,” said Realtor Carolyn Grimsley.