BRISTOL, Va. – Belt sander in hand, Michael Keohane glanced up at the mammoth wooden wall and wondered where to start.
“This is kind of my Goliath today,” Keohane, a manager at Highlands Community Services, said as he flashed a wide grin.
Sanding away an 11-foot-high painting of Goofy was the last task he expected to tackle Saturday morning at the YMCA Spring Lake Outdoor Center. But he was a volunteer, which meant an open agreement to lend a helping hand any way possible. That, and he was one of the few people at the pool center familiar with a belt sander.
Keohane was among the 50,000 volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who descended on Southern states as part of the church’s Second Annual Day of Service.
Many church volunteers were just like Keohane – unsure of the exact task awaiting them, but ready for the challenge.
In Bristol, slightly more than 100 church members rallied to the YMCA pool center, and to the gardens and walking trails of Sugar Hollow Park.
On the church website, Latter-Days Saints explain the event as a new tradition where members are encouraged to lend some elbow grease to community projects.
As a result, the thinking goes, America will better weather the current economic crisis.
At Sugar Hollow Park, the volunteer itinerary called for plenty of mulching. But forecasts predicting downpours changed the plans.
So in a shady patch fronting the park’s administration building, Chuck Tyhurst, a local optometrist, stood with a garden hoe in hand.
Nearby, a group of children kneeled in a flower garden, plucking weeds from the thin layer of existing mulch.
“We’ve been praying,” a smiling Tyhurst said as he glanced toward a sky filled with more blue than clouds. “The Lord’s helping us.”
City workers fearing rain stored the mulch away Friday. Still, on Saturday, volunteers were able spruce up the gardens and clear walking trails of paper and empty soda bottles.
At the YMCA pool complex, Howard Burton was surprised when he stumbled upon a chest-high pile of sand.
It was to be spread – one shovelful at a time – around the volleyball court. Progress seemed slow to everyone holding a shovel.
“We haven’t made much of a dent,” Burton, a retired plant manager, said, laughing.
But it was impressive enough to Bristol YMCA CEO Chris Ayers.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Ayers said while pointing to the dozens of volunteers painting fences, picking weeds and wielding brooms.
Ayers had to buy extra brooms and paint brushes Saturday morning because more volunteers arrived than he anticipated.
“We’re going to get more done on this outdoor pool than we have in the past five years,” he said.
mowens@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2549
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