A hundred members of Charleston Area Memorial Center were able to get their hands dirty, but not in the hospital.
United Way Day of Caring lets CAMC expand on one of their core values, service with compassion, and to show that the care they provide does not stop within hospital walls but extends to the community as well.
Different teams are spread throughout the Kanawha Valley and will perform tasks such as cleaning, pressure washing, painting and cleaning up the outside of facilities.
And CAMC employee Laura Tate said that serving the community shows that they care.
“CAMC really focuses on giving back to the community, were very community centered, and if our community, if we serve our community
then they know we care about them, so it’s important that we show that we care outside the hospital,” Tate said.
Tate also said that if the hospital continues to serve the community inside and outside the hospital, it will make the community better.
“I think anytime we can help each other, no matter what we’re doing, I think as a whole if we reach out, businesses help businesses and people help people, it’s just going to make our environment better, “Tate said.
And one of the places that a small team will help clean is the World’s Scouting Museum located on Washington Street E.
The museum curator Alex Bennett says that with the help of the employee’s from CAMC they are able to focus more on their community outreach programs.
“Well, it allows the museum to focus on other things, a lot of the stuff that we do is community outreach, “Bennett said. “We recently moved to West Virginia a couple of years ago from Las Vegas, so were really trying to be more active in the community, were trying to offer more merit badge classes to kids.”
Bennett welcomes the help so the museum will become more attractive to the community.
“When the community comes and helps us, were able to spend that time putting those efforts into grants and different things to make those dreams a reality,” Bennett said.
The project is put on by United Way and Bennett said to get in contact with them to find out how you can volunteer.
“They will be able to tell you what day the cares day is, what sites are going to need more volunteers that way they can kind of corral and get more people to wherever. If there is a specific cause that you have that you would like to volunteer for, I’m sure they would be more than happy to help you volunteer for that, you just have to call and talk to them beforehand.” Bennett said.
In addition to care day, CAMC employees have been able to collect items for the United Way Day of Caring signature project, Paws and Claws Animal Shelter Drive.