Youth for Christ volunteers plan variety of service projects

Published 11:00 pm Friday, October 10, 2008

EVERETT — Come Oct. 18, Snohomish County will turn a little more green. And for many social service agencies, it will be Christmas in October.

That’s when roughly 600 volunteers, including about 350 teens — all wearing matching green shirts — plan to fan out across the county to help with more than 75 service projects during CityServe.

This marks the third year for the annual Youth for Christ student volunteer day, an event organized by Brian Muchmore, executive director of the metro-area Youth for Christ.

The community is invited to join in.

“The biggest thing we’d love for people to know is that they can bring food donations to the CityServe rally next Saturday. We hope to replenish the food supply for five area food banks,” said Shari Muchmore with Youth for Christ.

Volunteers will start the day at 9:30 a.m. at a rally at Snohomish Free Methodist Church, 604 Ave. C, Snohomish. Brian Cress from the International Justice Mission is the featured speaker.

Volunteers will head out to work at a variety of service projects throughout the community. They’ll serve the elderly, disabled and homeless as well as work at food banks, schools and parks.

Here are some of the ways volunteers plan to assist: help elderly and disabled clients served by Catholic Community Services; clear out blackberry brambles along sidewalks, return shopping carts and pick up litter along Casino Road in Everett; deliver boxes of nonperishable food donations to food banks; work at a Habitat for Humanity building site in Everett; help paint the interior of an office at Housing Hope in Everett; help with yard work at Life Changes Ministry transitional homes in Everett and Monroe; help create 1,500 Giving Tree tags for the Christmas Toy Drive at the Lake Stevens Family Center; work at Boys &Girls Club locations in Everett and Monroe; help with yard work at Pathways House for Women at the Lynnwood YWCA; work at the Matthew House prison ministry in Monroe; help with yard work and landscaping at a HopeLink child-care center and housing unit; and help at The Farm Ministries in Snohomish.

Youth for Christ is a worldwide youth ministry organization with more than 40,000 staff and volunteers in 100 countries. For more information on the event, go to www.YFCseattlemetro.com.

Help at CityServe

Free rally at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 18 at Snohomish Free Methodist Church, 604 Ave. C, Snohomish. Call 425-931-2614 or e-mail shari@yfcsnocounty.com.

Volunteers are asked to bring items for local food banks.

Marysville churches to spruce-up city today

MARYSVILLE — More than 250 volunteers from nine Marysville churches are expected to participate in the second Serve Marysville event, which takes place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Asbery Field, 1605 Seventh St., Marysville.

Volunteers plan to remove a chain-link fence and bleachers and to beautify the area by laying grass sod, planting trees and shrubs and reseeding and leveling the field.

This is the second time this year volunteers from local churches have joined forces to help the city of Marysville through Serve Marysville. At a previous event, volunteers from a number of churches worked to pull weeds, spread bark and plant shrubs along a stretch of Fourth Street in Marysville and at Allen Creek Elementary School, said William Carey, media coordinator for Serve Marysville.

For more information, go to www.turningpointchurch.com.