The Friendship House of Jesus facility on Russ Street got a facelift Saturday when United Way of Bainbridge-Decatur County board members spent their time pulling weeds, cutting tree limbs and painting around the building.
The United Way Day of Action is a day dedicated to doing manual labor and collecting donations by United Way board members that goes above and beyond their financial contributions to their funded agencies.
Each year, the organization selects one of their agencies to be a recipient of a hands-on project and this year The Friendship House of Jesus was selected.
This was the fourth annual Day of Action for the United Way board in Bainbridge to take part in.
“Volunteers painted the front doors and stairwell area, changed light fixtures; power washed the play ground equipment and helped clear away heavily overgrown brush areas along the fence line,” Kim Walden, United Way board chairman, said. “Once again, JB Sanfilippo & Sons will donate a year’s supply of peanut butter to the Salvation Army food pantry.  Other community partners include Mike Clinton Painting and the Georgia Power Foundation along with several other anonymous donations that were made that day.”
Walden said the Day of Action is great for the board, because they get to see first hand how they make a difference.
Friendship House CEO Missy Rollins said the day was amazing and encouraging, having an organization come in and complete the tasks they have talked about doing for a long time.
“They showed up at 8 a.m. and worked tirelessly until 10:30 a.m.,” Rollins said. “They cleaned the whole back yard and cut all the vines from the fence line and hauled everything to the road. They also pressure washed all of the playground equipment.”