Estevan United Way's Day of Caring had volunteers working on a number of projects around the community, both big and small.

Board Co-Chair Shelley Veroba says that the day had a lot of volunteers who got a lot of work done. 

“We had just under 150 volunteers and we were closing in on 60 projects this year. So that was a really good ratio for having volunteers with the amount of projects we had. So we were able to complete all of our projects except a couple with the rain that came in the afternoon, a couple of our staining the fences and painting of decks, that kind of thing didn't get done.” 

The projects included large undertakings that helped out community organizations.

“Some of the bigger projects actually happened at locations such as the Estevan Humane Society, St. Josephs Hospital, Estevan Regional Nursing Home, Creighton Lodge, and the Estevan Bible Camp, and Souris Valley Theatre was another one of our projects that just happened on different days. So with all of those, those were some of our major ones. Then we also had individual people that put in for some kind of bigger yard work job and they were able to be completed too.” 

That storm did hamper some of the group's activities, but they were able to eventually finish the jobs they started.

“We were lucky, it came in kind of slow at first and so people still continued on with the planting, the weeding, that kind of yard type activities. But we slowed it down once the rain started coming, we all decided it was time to pack in. After the rain ended, a lot of our crew went back out, and picked up all the garbage from the various locations." 

People who benefited from the day were very happy with the help, said Veroba.

"We had some Trinity Tower residents who were just overwhelmed with joy and the support that we gave them in their building as we had nine projects in that building. We also had a few ladies over in the Hillside area that I spoke to directly. They were just thankful in having their hedges trimmed, they had a lot of their yard raked, one lady had her house power washed and she called them angels.” 

The United Way is already looking at ways to improve the day for next year.

"As soon as we wrap up, we start looking towards what we could do better next year, little things that we could change. So we do have a couple of notes. They'll just make us bigger and better for next year. We're already looking forward to next year and this is an annual event that United Way Estevan is very proud to host.” 

Veroba thanked the volunteers and the people who put in the projects and helped make the day possible.