Bernadette Gardner, Chehalis, paints a gutter outside the Pope's Kids Place Dental Clinic in Centralia Saturday afternoon during the Lewis County National Day of Service. Gardner and other volunteers repainted the entire building on Harrison Avenue.
Evlyn Langi, Centralia, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, paints the Pope's Kids Place Dental Clinic on Saturday during the annual Lewis County National Day of Service. The dental clinic was nearly completely repainted by Saturday evening.
Bernadette Gardner, Chehalis, a member of St. Joseph Church, painted a cross and a heart on the Pope's Kids Place Dental Clinic during the Lewis County National Day of Service. Gardner eventually painted over the drawings while finishing the volunteer work on Saturday.
Nearly 500 volunteers spread out across Lewis County on Saturday to landscape parks, paint buildings and collect donated food during the annual Lewis County National Day of Service.
The day of service — organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, St. Mary Church and the Assembly of God Church in Vader — kicked off Saturday morning at project locations that included Independence Park in Rochester, Riverside and Fort Borst parks in Centralia, Stan Hedwall and Recreation parks in Chehalis, the Adna School District and Pope’s Kids Place.
Jeanette Jacobson, Centralia, came out for the day of service for the first time this year and helped repaint the Pope’s Kids Place Dental Clinic.
Jacobson — who has volunteered constantly for “Paint the Town,” a Providence Centralia Hospital program that helps paint homes and clean yards for low-income seniors, families and disabled residents — wore a paint-stained T-shirt from a past “Paint the Town” event while brushing new paint on the dental clinic.
“I saw there was going to be a day of service and I had already done Paint the Town so I thought I need to get out and paint,” Jacobson said. “It just brightens it up and makes it look so much better.”
Along with Jacobson, about 10 other volunteers spent Saturday morning painting the nonprofit dental clinic on Harrison Avenue.
Bernadette Gardner, a member of St. Joseph Church in Chehalis, painted a heart and a cross on the side of the dental clinic as a fitting reminder to herself and others why they spent the day helping the community.
Gardner eventually painted over the drawings as she finished her work.
For the past 14 years, Gardner said, she has volunteered at food banks, but never participated in the day of service before Saturday. She said she recently visited a friend in Oregon who invited her to a day of service down there and that experience stuck in her mind.
“I love to paint,” Gardner said. “I thought I might get stuck gardening, but I got to paint.”
Frank Millwood, the director for Pope’s Kids Place, joined the other volunteers and helped paint the dental clinic. He said once the fresh paint dries, the clinic plans to paint cartoons and other drawings on the building to make the facility more kid friendly.
“We needed something that catches the eye,” Millwood said.
Volunteers also helped harvest food from the Reisinger Farm in Adna for the Lewis County Food Bank Coalition. The local churches held food drives during the service day as well.
