The Montgomery County Leadership Academy held its first-ever Community Day of Service event Wednesday. They hope to make it an annual event.
MCLA’s mission is to “provide a circle of opportunities and programs that support leadership, growth and volunteerism in Montgomery County.”
Vice president Monica Nagele said the academy has struggled with ways to connect the community to volunteers.
“So, the idea behind this event is to have everybody come out and actually work with our non-profits and hope that they can form a connection while they’re volunteering today,” Nagele said.
MCLA hopes those connections can become permanent and lead to more volunteering and contributions to the area non-profit organizations.
“I think we have plenty of people who need volunteers in our community,” Nagele said. “We have plenty of people who want to volunteer. They just don’t know where to start.”
Ten non-profit organizations signed up for the event and many people from the community stepped up to volunteer. Only two of the
organization hadn’t filled up their volunteer slots, however multiple people showed up to fill those spots Wednesday.
Mayor Todd Barton spoke to the crowd of volunteers before they dispersed to help around the city.
“This community is a very caring, giving community, and teamwork here and working together really stands out to the rest of the world. So you should give yourselves a round of applause for being here today and stepping up to help,” Barton said.
Organizations like the Animal Welfare League and the FISH Food Pantry of Montgomery County were eager to sign up for the event.
The FISH Food Pantry has been the only pantry operating in Crawfordsville since the end of July due to Grace and Mercy Ministries Food Bank being temporarily closed.
Ellen Simpson, the pantry’s coordinator, she said they are in need of anything and everything that the community can donate.
“The need is so great,” Simpson said. “We’re close to 500 families a month.”
She estimates about 1,300 people come through the doors a month for necessities like food, clothes and household items.
Some of the more specific items the pantry needs are bed sheets and towels, which Simpson said can be secondhand. The food items that are most needed are basic staples like pasta, jars of pasta sauce, soups and cereals.
The pantry is located in St. Bernards Catholic Church.
The AWL came to the Community Day of Service with a wish list, adoption applications and volunteer waivers.
Shelter manager Abbie Horn said the shelter is in desperate need of volunteers and supplies. Kitten chow is at the top of the shelter’s wish list along with scoop cat litter, pine pellets and wet food for both cats and dogs.
Jeremy Lemus, MCLA executive director, encourages people to reach out to him if they are looking for ways to help the community. He can be reached by email at ExecutiveDirector@54leadership.com.
