Over a hundred volunteers from Arvada’s business community came together to lend a helping hand to nonprofits in the community.
On May 3, the Arvada Chamber of Commerce hosted its inaugural Day of Service.
Throughout the day, volunteers helped many organizations in Arvada — including Community Table, Hope House Colorado, Mirror Image Arts, Family Tree, Beyond Home, Animal Assisted Therapy Programs of Colorado, City of Arvada and the Two Ponds Preservation Foundation.
With representatives from 51 Arvada businesses participating, over $12,000 worth of volunteer time was donated, according to Arvada Chamber President & CEO Kami Welch.
Day of Service, Welch said, was part of the chamber’s purpose — giving back to the community and creating a positive impact.
“At the Arvada Chamber, part of our purpose as an organization is to make a positive impact on our community,” Welch said. “That’s reflected in our vision: Healthy businesses, thriving community.
“Day of Service allowed our business leaders to step up, do something amazing and complete tasks that organizations may not have had the ability to accomplish otherwise,” Welch continued.
Welch, along with Visit Arvada Director Jean Gordon, spent the Day of Service volunteering for Community Table — building boxes that will be used to transport food to families.
Others spent the day clearing weeds and sprucing up the campus of Hope House Colorado, an Arvada-based nonprofit that helps teen moms work toward self-sufficiency.
Hope House Arvada Executive Director Lisa Steven said she was happy to see so many people come to support the organization.
“We are super excited because so many people from various businesses came to clean up the trash that is on our campus at Hope House, remove the weeds that are popping up and clean, just making this an excellent environment for our teen moms,” Steven said.
Over at Mirror Image Arts, a youth advocacy organization that seeks to disrupt the pipeline to prison, folks painted, built shelves and gardened to give the organization’s building a facelift.
“The Day of Service volunteers were amazing,” Theresa Mazza, Executive Director of Operations at Mirror Image Arts, said. “They were focused and worked hard to get so much done. We are so blown away by the support and care for our mission.”
The Chamber of Commerce is planning on holding Day of Service on an annual basis going forward, according to the chamber’s website.