Volunteers clean up around Sheffield as part of Serve Day
The temperature on Saturday, July 11, may have hit 96 degrees, but that didn’t stop the work being done to spruce up the city of Sheffield.
Almost 100 volunteers, along with the members of the Sheffield City Council, gave up their Saturday to help clean up around the city as part of the Church of the Highlands Serve Day.
“What an incredible day for Sheffield,” Mayor Bryan Van Devender posted on social media. “Many of you have seen a photo of me wearing a backpack blower from yesterday making the rounds on Facebook. While I’m grateful for the encouragement, I wanted to share the bigger story. Nearly 100 volunteers and our entire City Council invested their Saturday serving our city.
“Church of the Highlands selected Sheffield for this year’s Serve Day and was joined by volunteers from several Sheffield churches and members of our community. Together, they refreshed all 20 of our downtown landscape beds, completed extensive work at the Michael Center, picked up litter, spread fresh mulch, planted flowers and made a visible difference across our city. It was an honor to spend the day working alongside so many people who simply wanted to serve.”
According to the Church of the Highlands website, Serve Day is “our annual outreach event that closes our Summer Small Group Semester. It is an exciting opportunity for us, the local church, to go into our communities and love our neighbors. This summer, whether through a Small Group or by joining a Serve Day project, come be a part of serving our communities and sharing the love of Jesus through simple, practical acts of kindness.”
Volunteers, young and old alike, grabbed shovels, paint rollers, a myriad of trash bags and other tools to help with the cleanup process.
“My sincere thanks to Church of the Highlands, every Sheffield church that participated, Keep the Shoals Beautiful group, every volunteer who gave their time, and everyone who helped make today such a success. Your generosity, hard work, and servant’s heart were a tremendous blessing to Sheffield,” Van Devender said.
“I’d also like to thank local photographer and filmmaker Andrew Johnston for donating his time to document yesterday’s effort. The accompanying) photos that follow tell the story far better than I ever could. I hope you’ll take a few moments to look through them and join me in recognizing the people who made the day possible. Sheffield is grateful for each and every one of you.”
