United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley, volunteers spring into Day of Action

The following article first appeared in The Parkersburg News & Sentinel on June 22, 2023.

Giving back to the community was the spirit in which teams of people were out throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley on Wednesday doing volunteer work to help various people and organizations through the United Way’s seventh annual Day of Action.

Teams of people representing different workplaces, organizations and civic groups were out the entire day doing work around Parkersburg, Vienna, Mineral Wells, Marietta, Belpre, Ravenswood, Ripley and more.

There were more than 28 projects and more than 350 volunteers, said Stacy DeCicco, executive director for the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley.

“This is the largest day of action events that we have ever launched,” she said. “The difference that will be made throughout our community on this day will be difficult to fully describe.

“The impact will reach far and wide and could not continue at this level if we didn’t have phenomenal community partners walking alongside us in these efforts.”

Projects included painting, cleaning, landscaping, construction work for Habitat For Humanity, packing senior boxes and more. There was a blood drive and one group helped to build an ecology pond at the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County in Marietta.

WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center was one of the main sponsors of the event with the hospital having six teams doing work with a seventh from the WVU Medicine-affiliated Jackson General Hospital.

One team from Camden Clark was at Belpre’s Civitan Park doing painting work around the park’s picnic shelters and some landscaping work, getting them ready for the upcoming Belpre Homecoming Festival.

“We are all out tackling community projects,” said Kim Couch, director of the Camden Clark Foundation. “It is always nice when a community can come out and support a project when you are relying on volunteers.

“No one can do it all by themselves. It is a way to give back and support communities. We are just so happy to be here and to have such a nice day.”

Couch, who was part of a group who did work in Belpre last year, said it is something to regularly drive through the community and see places she helped work on, including the Belpre Seniors Center where they did landscaping work last summer.

“It is super rewarding to come by at a later date and see the fruits of your labor,” she said. “It all looks really good.”

Colton Thieman, a registered nurse working in educational services, said it was important to be a part of and help the community beyond their work at the hospital.

“I think it is important to be civic minded,” he said. “We have an obligation to provide service to our community.

“We are health care providers, but we also feel the need to support the community in other ways as well,” he said. “It lets our community know that we are here in other ways.”

Belpre Mayor Mike Lorentz came by to see how their work was proceeding. He likes it when people are able to lend a hand to help with various projects in the area.

“It is a good way to show a little faith in the community,” he said. “They are helping to spruce up our little city.”

Another team from Camden Clark helped with the ecology pond at the Boys and Girls Club of Washington County in Marietta.

The club is located in a part of Marietta which was an industrial area at one time. and the ground was very rocky, said Executive Director Rebecca Johnson. They have many raised flower beds and more they use in their programs with local youth.

Volunteers dug out the space inside a large walled structure where the pond will be placed. They are planning to put Bluegill fish, frogs and more in the pond and have native species of plants around it. There will be a system put in to keep the water circulating.

“We want to teach the kids about the water cycle, native species of fish, food cycles and all those types of things,” Johnson said of the space that will be used as an outside classroom area.

She is thankful for the help and the workers who donated their time. Materials were also donated by Lowes.

“If you add up the hours and people that is a lot of money,” Johnson said. “It is amazing. We are a non-profit and our goal is to get as much money directly impacting children and their programming.”

A group of 12 people from Celanese at the Washington Works plant was at the Parkersburg YMCA doing a painting project along a hallway near the pool area.

“It is wonderful,” said Facility Director Mark Posten. “There are projects I can’t always get to, but when they come in to help it always improves the looks of the building.”

Emily Ploskina, a Control System Engineer with Celanese, said it is a good thing for people to get involved in helping out in the community.

“We love to step in and help,” she said. “It is important to get out and show the community that we appreciate them and want to give back to them.

“Volunteering one day of our time to help benefit everyone around us is the least we can do.”