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Meeting a need: Over 300 BAHS students take part in annual Day of Caring in Centre County

By SARAH BUTTIKOFER 5 min read

BELLEFONTE -- More than 350 Bellefonte Area High School juniors and seniors spent Thursday outside the classroom and across Centre County, lending their time to local organizations as part of the annual Day of Caring.

The students joined roughly 1,200 volunteers working at about 65 sites throughout the county for the Centre County United Way's 32nd annual Day of Caring. The event, recognized by the Centre County Board of Commissioners as taking place Thursday, Oct. 1, brings together schools, businesses, organizations and individual volunteers to complete projects that local nonprofits and community groups may not have the time, manpower or resources to handle themselves.

For Bellefonte High School, the event has become an annual tradition.

Vice Principal Stephen Caruso said the school has students complete 30 hours of community service as a graduation requirement, but the goal is to make the experience about more than simply fulfilling a requirement.

"I hope to give them an appreciation for the non-profit organizations in our community that work hard to provide services for the community," Caruso said.

The students were spread across locations including Boal Mansion, Bellefonte Union Cemetery, Bald Eagle State Park, Shaver's Creek, Logan Fire Department, Talleyrand Park, the Youth Service Bureau Youth Center, Rhoneymeade and the Bellefonte History Museum's Miles-Humes House.

"We've developed relationships with places over the years where they are in need of some help and we are able to provide kids to help them," Caruso said.

Caruso said the students also have an opportunity to see parts of the county and organizations they may not otherwise encounter.

"I hope that they gain an appreciation for volunteerism and continue that into adulthood," Caruso said. "Also, it's neat that a lot of them get to go out to different sites and see parts of the county, and organizations that they might not know about or might not visit."

The Day of Caring began in Centre County in 1995. United Way coordinator Celesta Powell said the event's purpose is to connect nonprofits with volunteers who can complete projects that might otherwise go unfinished.

"The Day of Caring has existed since 1995 in Centre County, and the function is to take nonprofit organizations that have a need or a project, and pair them with local community members or community organizations to complete those projects for them," Powell said.

Powell said some organizations may have the resources to complete a project but lack the people or time to do it. Other projects may simply fall outside an organization's budget.

"Oftentimes there are activities that a nonprofit just can't get to," Powell said. "They might have access to the resources, but they just physically can't get there. Or it might be things that are just not quite in the budget this year, but a business or an organization may have the tools and the accessibility to get it completed."

This year's projects ranged from routine maintenance to larger community improvement efforts. Volunteers worked on outdoor projects, including planting and landscaping, while others helped with painting, organizing and cleanup.

At Bellefonte Union Cemetery, volunteers cleaned around gravestones and worked on GPS locating to help people find graves. At Shaver's Creek, more than 150 people were expected to participate in trail maintenance and organization projects.

Other projects include driveway sealing for a residential program, tree removal through Ferguson Township's maintenance department, painting and reorganizing in Port Matilda Borough and letter writing and care packages for soldiers through Soldier Hands.

Powell said those seemingly small projects can have a significant effect on organizations that do not have extra staff available to complete them.

"A lot of projects always ask for some outdoor work," Powell said. "That is one of the hardest things for nonprofits to find people that will help them do some final, you know, planting, making the property look visually appealing, those types of things."

For Bellefonte students, the day also represents a significant logistical undertaking.

Powell said school officials began coordinating with her as early as July to arrange sites and organize transportation, supervision and other needs for the hundreds of students.

"They are orchestrating hundreds of kids. That means buses. That means lunch and making sure the kids are fed," Powell said.

Powell said the scale of Bellefonte's participation makes the school's commitment particularly significant.

"It is no small task to get that many people out there," Powell said.

For Powell, however, the value of the event extends beyond the work completed in a single day. She said volunteering can introduce students to organizations in their community while showing them the impact that their time can have.

"Not only when they go out are they helping to meet a really big need of doing something and taking care of their community, but the long-term scope of teaching volunteerism to the students is impactful after they leave high school, and it's impactful in our community," Powell said.

Caruso said students have typically returned from the event satisfied with their experience.

"The kids always come back very happy from being outside all day, and doing some outside work with their friends," Caruso said. "They always come back very satisfied, which is nice."

Powell hopes students leave with a better understanding of the organizations they helped and the value of giving their time.

"You're realizing that just giving a little bit of your time goes a really, really long way, and you'll feel good when you're done," Powell said.

The Centre County Board of Commissioners issued a proclamation this week recognizing Oct. 1 as the Day of Caring in Centre County. The event brought volunteers together at sites throughout the county Thursday to provide services ranging from cleaning and organizing to painting, maintenance and community projects.

"I think it's nice to recognize that the high school will be out, and it's really nice to recognize the impact of what volunteering is, not just a forced mandate in your graduation requirements," Powell said.

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