Volunteers help out at projects around southern Wisconsin
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Twins Cora, left, and Jordan Laatz, 10, apply a coat of primer near the baseboard in the entryway of Clinton Elementary School on Saturday.
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Matt Graf, Pastor with First Baptist Church in Clinton, right, and Jordan Grant scuff up the old paint on the walls of the entryway to Clinton Elementary School while preparing the surface for a new coat of paint during a work day on Saturday.
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Twins Cora, left, and Jordan Laatz, 10, apply a coat of primer near the baseboard in the entryway of Clinton Elementary School on Saturday.
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Matt Graf, Pastor with First Baptist Church in Clinton, right, and Jordan Grant scuff up the old paint on the walls of the entryway to Clinton Elementary School while preparing the surface for a new coat of paint during a work day on Saturday.
CLINTON — They’ve worshipped together and prayed together.
On Saturday they worked together.
Dozens of volunteers from 10 stateline-area churches and Rock County Christian School worked at parks and schools during what organizers hope is the first of many such organized work days.
Volunteers of all ages worked at Riverside and Rockport parks in Janesville as well as at locations in Beloit and South Beloit, Ill.
“Our motivation is to be a blessing because we have truly been blessed,” Rock County Christian School Administrator Tim Befus wrote in an email.
About 40 volunteers participated in the event, Befus said.
The idea started at a monthly meeting of church leaders, said the Rev. Matt Graf of First Baptist Church in Clinton. The churches previously had participated in rallies, but Saturday’s volunteer event was the first organized work day, Graf said.
Graf led a small group of volunteers Saturday morning at Clinton Elementary School. They scrubbed and scuffed the cinderblock walls in the school’s foyer and prepped for fresh coats of paint.
The smallest volunteers were former Clinton elementary students Cora and Jordan Laatz. The 10-year-old twins will start fifth grade in the fall at Clinton Middle School. They hopped and jumped to reach as high as they could while sanding the old coat of paint.
Their small size made it easy for them to paint the lower edge of the wall.
They declared it “fun” and “weird” to be working in their empty elementary school.
Graf said he hopes the kids and all the volunteers will set a good example for the church and the secular community in Rock County.
“To this county, especially, we want to show that, hey, we can all work together,” Graf said.
TO LEARN MORE
Individuals or churches interested in planning or participating in future workdays should contact Tim Befus at (608) 365-7378 or visit rccs.us.
Jul 18, 2011 at 2:09 p.m.
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What does faith or religion have to do with volunteering? I do it because a lot of the children in the hospital spend a lot of time alone. Treatments may take weeks. Their parents still have to work and may not live close enough to visit everyday. Why does this have to be a religious story? Why can't it just be that these people volunteer because it's the right thing to do?
Jul 18, 2011 at 11:54 a.m.
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This is a nice story about people doing good things for their community as their faith has led them to do and encouraging others to pitch in with the promise of more to come. Hopefully, they'll attract a lot of helpers.
I see some of the Gazette's political fanatics have posted some boilerplate. It's too bad their minds are so occupied with their political self-interests that they feel the need to make such cynical and off-point comments. Now all we need are for the atheist fanatics to weigh in with a few pointless cynicisms of their own to complete the distortion of the storyline.
Jul 18, 2011 at 10:26 a.m.
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I never "said" this story is political. The first two posts made it a political story. Don't get it.
Jul 18, 2011 at 8:45 a.m.
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Hold on a second..... If they are working in a Public school, aren't they REQUIRED BY LAW to be paid UNION SCALE? I'm not certain how it is there, But I remember when Cesar Chavez school in Madison was built and the painters were not paid union scale. The city found out and MADE the employer reimburse all of the wages they were not paid. Why isn't the union in an uproar over this?
But seriously, kudos to the volunteers for their civic pride. As for me, I still donate video games and visit children who suffer from leukemia at UW Hospital. I lost a child to this horrible disease. Once you see what actually takes place in the hospital and how alone these kids sometimes are, it will make you want to do something to ease their pain.
Jul 18, 2011 at 8:17 a.m.
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janesvillean:It's Paul Ryan and his heroine, Ayn Rand, who reject volunteerism. - Your kidding right?! - when the administration in Janesville suggests cutting librarians and relying on volunteers the union goes nuts, not to mention these "projects" in the schools are defined as Prevailing Wage jobs (union). I guess the teachers union in Clinton actually "gets it"
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janesvillean: "It's good to see we have people in this community who still care." - notice the volunteers in Janesville worked in parks, hmm wonder why. Does this mean the JEA doesn't care?
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I can't believe the lefties aren't all over this one being someone actually had the audacity to mention a Pastor & worship in the same article as a public school. Typical hypocrites!
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To all the volunteers - congratulations on a job well done. Your efforts are much appreciated
Jul 18, 2011 at 12:16 a.m.
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Saywhat, where do you get the idea that this is Political?
Jul 17, 2011 at 9:10 p.m.
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How did this story get political? Nice story on a group trying to volunteer in our community. To the other posters, how do you volunteer in the community?
Jul 17, 2011 at 6:22 p.m.
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It's Paul Ryan and his heroine, Ayn Rand, who reject volunteerism. It's good to see we have people in this community who still care.
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