On Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28, community members will join together in La Porte to dedicate two days of caring for their city and spend time with one another through the first-ever, La Porte Community Togetherhood® Project. The Togetherhood® Project will have service projects that aim to help take care of the historic downtown La Porte area.
The Togetherhood® Project is a YMCA, member-led, volunteer service program that is part of a larger YMCA of the USA sanctioned social responsibility initiative. Togetherhood® invites community members from all backgrounds to address real needs in our community, support cultural engagement and to bring service and social responsibility to local areas.
The La Porte County Family YMCA, La Porte Economic Advancement Partnership (LEAP), United Way of La Porte County and numerous community partners have been working together as volunteers on the committee to plan and organize two days of service projects. This program focuses on bringing service and social responsibility to local areas. The event will also be held in conjunction with The United Way of La Porte County’s Day of Service in La Porte on Friday, Sept. 27.
“The initial response from community partners, sponsors and community volunteers has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Shannon Walker, Executive Director for Association Advancement. “We immediately had local employers and nonprofits at the table ready to plan and support this initiative, including American Renolit, American Licorice, La Porte Hospital, Kabelin’s Ace Hardware, Family Advocates and many more.”
“I believe that this event brings people together and gives them a chance to be a part of the solution,” said Angela Rose, Downtown Director of LEAP. “It’s easy to sit back and complain about what is not happening in your community, but it takes great individuals to come together and be a part of the solution, creating the change that you want to see. Every single person has the power to make their community a better place and many hands make light work. That is the opportunity we are offering with the Togetherhood Project.”
Focusing mostly on Lincolnway, Monroe Street, and State Street in the downtown area, there are various service opportunities like painting street furniture, power washing buildings, picking up trash, removing weeds, installing signage, and more that will have a large impact on the community. The library is organizing a community rock garden and people can paint rocks with positive messages on them to go into the garden.
The Togetherhood Project® hopes to gain as many volunteers as possible in order to improve and increase the health of downtown La Porte.
The Togetherhood® Project team members are representatives from many community organizations, including United Way, Renolit, La Porte Hospital, 1st Source Bank, Leadership LaPorte County, Boy Scouts, and more.
“Based on the feedback and ideas from our community partners, we’re already talking about how we can expand the Togetherhood® Project into the greater La Porte community in the future,” said Walker.
The Togetherhood® Project also highlights the diversity of the area in age, race, and background within the community members who come together to volunteer their time to make their home a better place.
“La Porte is my hometown. Becoming the Downtown Director opened my eyes to all the amazing things happening in LaPorte,” Rose said. “We have an amazing façade program and the downtown is truly improving every year. I want to improve the quality of life for downtown LaPorte and help create an environment where people want to take their children to go shopping or out for lunch or even open up their own business. This program is a step in that direction.”
If you are interested in joining the Togetherhood® movement as an individual or team volunteer, contact Kyleigh Kubik, Volunteer Coordinator, La Porte County Family YMCA at kkubik@lpymca.org or call her at 219.325.9622.
Individuals and organizations can sign up as volunteers or choose to sponsor the program. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Shannon Walker at swalker@lpymca or call her at 219.325.9622.
To learn more about the program and other community organizations that are involved, you can go to their Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/447712946008558/. To sign up online for this special service opportunity, go to https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050948a5ac22a2f94-city.
