Volunteers rake, build, paint around Whatcom County for Make a Difference Day
Lee Langdon and her husband, Danny, met at the funeral of a friend who died of AIDS more than 20 years ago. Since then, they've lost other family and friends to the disease. So Saturday, Oct. 22, on a day that dozens around the county were volunteering as part of Make A Difference Day, they felt compelled to sign up to do yardwork at the Sean Humphrey House.
The center, at 1630 H St., currently houses six HIV/AIDS patients. Some have lived there for about a decade.
"I can't go to Africa and take care of AIDS victims," Lee said. "But I can cut some flowers and make this look a little bit better." Make A Difference Day, a nationwide volunteering event, is coordinated locally by the Whatcom Volunteer Center.
After a free breakfast at Bellingham High School, bunches of four or more volunteers fanned out to about 30 projects around the county, from Bellingham to Lynden to Acme.
Once there, they built greenhouses and play pens, raked lawns and painted houses.
At the St. Francis Center, a long-term care facility for recovering surgery patients, about a dozen volunteers put together a small greenhouse and built two raised garden beds.
What might seem like minor volunteer work means a lot at St. Francis, said Heidi Bugbee, who coordinates the children's center.
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