Building wheelchair ramps, repairing roofs, painting and yard work are all projects that will be completed during this year's Day Of Caring.
There will be 96 homes in Kosciusko County that will be improved by 775 volunteers. The homes are in Claypool, Leesburg, Milford, Mentone, North Webster, Pierceton, Silver Lake, Syracuse, Winona Lake and Warsaw.This year's United Way Of Kosciusko County Day Of Caring is Wednesday. Partners are Housing Opportunities Of Warsaw, Grace College and Kosciusko Senior Services.
This year is the fifth year for Day Of Caring. In 2005, there were four projects completed; 25 projects were completed in 2006; 65 projects were completed in 2007; and 101 projects were completed in 2008.
Local churches in each town will provide lunch for the volunteers.
Volunteers will have breakfast at Grace College at 7 a.m., and jobs will begin at 8:30 a.m. A closing ceremony where volunteers and homeowners are able to share their experiences will be at 6:30 p.m. at Hillside Amphitheater, Winona Lake.
"This one-day event allows volunteers to help those less fortunate and see the blessings that day," said Pat Coy, United Way of Kosciusko County executive director.
Homeowners must meet three criteria to receive improvements to their homes. They are selected based on having low to moderate income, being a senior citizen or handicapped .
Pam Kennedy, HOW executive director, said HOW had more than 100 families in need of roofs, furnaces, windows, doors, and septic repairs before it received requests for work for Day Of Caring.
"So much good work is accomplished through the joining of talents and a mass amount of companies and citizens giving of their time," Kennedy said.
