Carbon County volunteers rally to complete community service project

By Sun Advocate

One Price resident got a surprise gift last week as a community army rallied to completely remodel her home in two days.
The community makeover project was organized by anonymous participants and supplies were provided by anonymous donors.
“We had read about a similar group doing something like this in Kaysville or Ogden and we decided we wanted to do something similar,” said one organizer. “Originally, we had decided we would get the youth groups together and tackle many small projects at once but as the planning continued and donations started to come in we decided we would focus our efforts on one main project that would make a lasting impression.”
The scope of work on the house was major.
“We really went all out with this residence’s makeover,” commented another involved individual.
The group consisting of 250 community volunteers that put in nearly 2,500 manpower hours during the two-day period.
To start, the group formed a human chain and removed all possession from the house to be stored until the project was completed.
The members then got down with some heavy construction that included:
•Two concrete porches.
•A stripped, prepped and painted exterior.
•Sheetrock mending and new paint throughout the home’s interior.
•Complete electrical revamp, including new light switches and light fixtures.
•Replacement of nine doors.
•New carpet throughout the house.
•New tile floors in both bathrooms.
•A new wood floor in the kitchen.
•New kitchen appliances, cabinets, counter tops, heat registers and cold air return units.
•Landscaping along the front and side of the home.
•Cleaning the backyard area.
•New windows and shelves.
The group is continuing to do touch up work involving plumbing and water issues.
According to the organizers, the project was initiated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but grew into something that the whole community wanted to be involved in.
The group wanted to focus on helping widows or single parents and members began to contact church leaders along with the United Way, College of Eastern Utah’s Sun Center and Carbon County Children’s Justice Center to get word out on the project.
“We got kids from Price, Wellington, Helper and other county areas,” said one group leader. “That was what was so amazing the way that the whole community just came together. We didn’t plan to do everything that we did but then someone would say ‘I can get the concrete,’ and then ‘I can get the blinds’ and before you knew it we had enough man power and products to redo the whole house.”
The group ended up being split fairly evenly between 150 adults and 110 youth.
The 110 youth participants only represented the children who brought permission slips to participate in the community service activity.
“For those who came without slips, we made calls to parents and made sure they had the opportunity to serve just like everyone else. We didn’t have to turn anyone away,” said another organizer.
While the project was a big boost for one family, those involved in the event claim that the act of seeing a community come together in this way was very moving.
“All we heard during those two days was, ‘what can I do to help.’ Everyone showed up wanting to work,” concluded an organizer. “And we only had one very minor injury so, all in all, it couldn’t have gone any better.”