HELENA – More than 500 volunteers were out cleaning up yards and doing home maintenance on June 5 for the annual Rocky Mountain Development Council (RMDC) Spirit of Service event.
Now in its 20th year, Spirit of Service is organized by RMDC in partnership with local businesses and organizations.
The purpose of the event is to aid disabled, veteran or elderly individuals who are unable to do yard and home work themselves.
“A lot of seniors really value being able to sit out in their yards and have a beautiful surrounding, and so many of them can’t do the work themselves,” said Kathy Marks, RMDC Operations Director. “It really makes the volunteers and the rest of us at RMDC feel great to help them out.”
This year volunteers helped improve 54 homes in the greater Helena area.
One of the beneficiaries this year is veteran Elmer Kwasney and his wife Judy.
Volunteers washed the Kwasney’s windows, stained their deck, planted flowers and provide other much needed yard work.
The couple said the work being done is a huge help and they can’t express how truly grateful they are to the volunteers.
“You can’t hire somebody to do all this. It’s just amazing what they can do in one day and they come from all over,” said Elmer.
The volunteers MTN spoke with said they’re just glad to help out.
“We’re just trying to help out where we can for somebody who really deserves it,” said Kristy Brown with Home Depot
RMDC wants to thank all the people, businesses and organizations who gave their time and support to make this year’s Spirit of Service possible.
