Volunteers spruce up Memorial Hall kitchen

Rain put a limit on the work that could be done, but it did not dampen the spirit of volunteers who turned out Wednesday to support the first Carbon County Day of Caring.

Organized by the Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley, partnering with United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, the one-day event was created to help nonprofits with multiple projects throughout Carbon County.

Around a dozen volunteers showed up in Jim Thorpe to help clean the kitchen at the borough-owned Memorial Hall.

“We’re totally committed to Carbon County and this was one of the ways we thought we could build on that partnership,” said Jill Pereira, vice president of education and impact for the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

“We’ve been doing the day of action for 27 years in Lehigh and Northampton counties and wanted to bring that to Carbon this year as well. We got a great turnout and everybody was really excited to get to work cleaning the kitchen here this morning.”

Volunteers could be found in the kitchen scrubbing different equipment, sweeping the floors of wiping down counters. Pam Fimiano, of First Commonwealth Credit Union, said helping out in any fashion creates a rewarding feeling for those who do it.

“It’s gratifying to give back,” Fimiano said. “The is the first time I’ve done a day of action like this and I’m really thankful I did it.”

First Commonwealth had several volunteers on cleaning duty Wednesday, as did Lehigh Valley Health Network.

“We enjoy this a lot,” said Rhonda Lauer of First Commonwealth. “Any chance we get to come out, volunteer and do what we can to help others, we take that opportunity.”

Several other Day of Caring projects were scheduled for Wednesday, but rain forced their cancellation. They included a trail cleanup in Parryville along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, painting of a gazebo and shingle replacement in Lansford so it could be used during “Music in the Park” nights, and trail sign installation and bench building along the Kidder Trail.

“We had a couple projects we had to scrap because of the weather, but everyone is so happy to be able to get the kitchen done today,” Shaun Marakovits, of the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, said.

“This is a big kitchen so having all hands on deck really ended up being a good thing. This is kind of what we do, whether it’s build something from the ground up, or come in and do something like this, we’re here to help in a number of different ways.”