Volunteer leads group for Days of Caring cleanup
Published 10:37 pm Wednesday, September 10, 2008
ARLINGTON — Sharman Leaf is a busy woman.
A single mother of three with a full-time job, Leaf is leading a team of 22 volunteers this weekend to clean up a playground for the United Way Days of Caring.
“As a single mom, I have had my own struggles through the years,” Leaf said. “It makes me happy to give back to the community that has given so much to me over the years.”
The United Way Days of Caring is a two-day event held across the county that takes hundreds of volunteers and matches them up with nonprofit organizations that could use a little help. Teams perform a variety of services — for example, sorting donated clothes or painting over graffiti.
Leaf and her team are planning to refurbish the playground at the Lervick Family Neighborhood for the Housing Hope location in Stanwood.
“We’ll be working on the playground, staining the fences and spreading some beauty bark,” Leaf said. “We’ll be doing some remulching and planting some shrubbery we’ve bought to brighten up the grounds.”
Leaf first heard of the Day of Caring when coming to work for Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies in 1997. A company tradition, the employees annually participate in the Day of Caring, which originally was a one-day event.
“Everyone here at AMT are really into it, people start getting excited for the Day of Caring every year and our managers are very encouraging,” Leaf said. “This is something we look forward to every year without fail.”
Leaf, 39, has been a Snohomish County resident her whole life and has participated in the Day of Caring six times.
“My kids used to go to the Arlington Boys &Girls Club,” Leaf said. “And one year we were able to go there for the Day of Caring and do some work for them. It was great to give back.”
Leaf said that some co-workers are already planning for next year.
“It’s a way we can all come together,” Leaf said. “We look at the United Way campaign as a moral booster for ourselves and for the people we have volunteered to help.”
Reporter Justin Arnold: 425-339-3432 or jarnold@heraldnet.com.
