EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- Volunteering out of the goodness of their hearts, more than 100 community members from the Bethel area spent Saturday chipping in and sprucing up the neighborhood around an area elementary school.
Around 140 volunteers from Westside Faith Center, the Casa de Luz hispanic church, and the Malabon Elementary School PTO spent Saturday cleaning up the school grounds of Malabon Elementary in Bethel.
Tackling all kinds of work around the school, crews spent the day cleaning up litter, landscaping overgrown plants, painting in and outdoors, also giving flower pots to neighboring residents.
The event, called “One Day,” was organized by leaders at the Westside Faith Center as a way to see how much help volunteers could give an area in their local community in just one day.
Group members say while this is the first “One Day” event in the community, they're hoping it's contagious.
“It's just a matter of just asking the question, you know when you drive around your city, you drive around your town and you ask the question, 'hey where could I help?' And then just having a conversation with people that you know and say 'hey, we can do this,'” said Joe Cockrum, the leader pastor of Westside Faith Center.
Cockrum says anyone who is interested in doing a “One Day” style event just merely needs to take initiative.
“It's just being mindful of hey, what are the needs in my community and what can I do?” said Cockrum.
Some of the supplies for the event like the paint was provided by the Bethel School District, but most of the equipment used Saturday was either paid for or loaned by volunteers.
For more on the Westside Faith Center's activities, click the following link: http://westsidefc.net/.
