BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
Slots are filling up for the spring Community Impact Weekend, April 28-29.
“We have 40 projects that need 1,000 people to complete, and projects are still coming in,” said Daniel L. Whiting, executive pastor at Clarkston Community Church.
Projects include rake-and-runs for local seniors, outdoor clean ups at Renaissance High School and Clarkston elementary schools, collect donations and assemble care packages for dialysis and cancer patients at the Church of the Resurrection, and minor construction projects for elderly and single-parent families, such as wheelchair ramps, window replacements, and entryway work.
Projects are also planned at Lighthouse and food pantries, Clarkston Independence District Library, O.A.T.S., and local community gardens.
They need volunteers from local churches, businesses, school groups, and community organizations, as well as corporate sponsors and donations for material and food for volunteers.
Most projects don’t require skilled labor and families and youth volunteers are welcome. They range from yard work outside to inside projects such as writing letters to overseas service men and women. Some construction projects will require skilled workers. Most volunteers sign up for about four hours at a time, starting in the morning and finishing up by about 1-2 p.m.
“We provide lunch for them,” Whiting said. “It’s really a fun day. It’s really neat to see the community come together for the weekend.”
Organizations working together to pool resources and ideas builds a better community, he said.
“The relationships we build with each other is really exciting,” he said. “The projects are neat, but the fact we’re working together at the library, senior center, with neighbors down the street, PTA in schools, you get to know your community – that has tremendous value.
Community Impact Weekend was launched in 2012, when community churches combined individual weekend projects. It’s now hosted by Habitat of Oakland County and My Habitat Clarkston.
Some projects are weather dependent, and others last throughout the year.
For more information or to sign up, go to www.impact-weekend.org.