United Way volunteers help Helena residents with spring cleanup

More than 200 volunteers fanned out across 18 Helena-area locations Friday, with about 8 to 12 people at each site, to tackle the spring cleanup work that can become unmanageable for seniors, people with disabilities and veterans.

For Helena resident Patricia Buerman, the help brought immediate relief from chores she could not manage on her own. She said jobs such as cleaning gutters and other outside maintenance can be far more expensive to hire out than many homeowners expect, turning a seasonal nuisance into a real financial burden.

Jeff Buscher, United Way’s community impact coordinator, said the organization often hears from residents who need help but do not know where to turn. Spring is a practical time to organize volunteer work because the projects are visible, immediate and manageable, he said, and the labor ranges from painting and fixing decks to trimming hedges and other household maintenance.

Spirit of Service is designed for senior citizens or individuals with disabilities who cannot complete the work themselves. The service covers Helena, East Helena and the valley, and businesses sponsor the homes and volunteers so the work is completed at no cost to the homeowner. United Way says volunteers must be between the ages of 16 and 100, and the outdoor event is family friendly, combining physical labor, skilled labor and social interaction.

That free help matters because even a single task can be costly. Buerman pointed to gutter cleaning as one example of work that can run into the hundreds of dollars, and a local estimate cited a $700 bill for that kind of job when done privately.

The effort also reflects a longer local tradition of neighbors stepping in for one another. Spirit of Service is in its fifth year under United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area, based at 75 E. Lyndale Avenue in Helena and led by Executive Director Emily McVey. The program has also had much larger turnouts in the past, with about 500 volunteers helping roughly 50 homes in 2018 and more than 500 volunteers participating again in 2019, showing how broad the need for hands-on help remains across Lewis and Clark County.