Legacy Build 2011: Many groups bolster volunteer ranks

A Millard Fuller Legacy Build brings together a lot of old friends and a lot of individuals who simply are driven to give back. But it also draws different groups looking for service opportunities.

There are many such groups at Legacy Build in Minden, La., this week. Some are working the entire spending the entire week working at the build, while others are working a day or two.

The groups include the First United Methodist Church youth group from Bossier City, La.; Boomtown Hotel and Casino, also from Bossier City; Carter Federal Credit Union; AmeriCorps; Lowe’s; and the Vinyl Siding Institute, who will be leading the installation of siding they donated.

That’s just a sampling of the groups here and the groups to come. The week is still young.

Charity Myers is marketing manager for Boomtown, which brought 15 workers to volunteer at the site on Tuesday. They were spread out among different houses along Millard Fuller Drive.

“We’re very active in the community,” she said. “It’s just something that’s instilled in us when we start working for Boomtown because one of our guiding principles is community. So we make sure we are part of something going on all the time, at least two or three functions a month to make sure our name is out there and that we’re helping the community any way we can.”

Sheila Robertson and Carter Federal Credit Union brought 22 employees from various branches.

“We’re a credit union with a lot of community involvement,” said Robertson, manager of Carter Federal Credit Union’s Minden, La., branch. “I know (Fuller Center of Webster Parish director) Charlie Park personally, and we’ve been involved with him for a couple of years now. So we just wanted to do something to help Charlie.”

“Each quarter, we try to pick a community that we’re going to do some type of volunteer work for, and I asked to have this quarter,” Robertson added. “So I brought the whole team. We’re very excited to be here and help people who might not be as fortunate as we are.”

Of course, the focus is community involvement and service, but there’s another side for these groups who get out and volunteer.

“You want to break the monotony and get out of the office every now and then,” Myers said. “It also gives us a chance to get to know each other a little better. You get to meet new people and get our name out there. At the same time, it bring us together a little bit closer because we are a tight-knit family at Boomtown. It’s a very laid-back, relaxed atmosphere, so doing something like this is second nature to us. We have fun doing it. Anywhere we go, we’re gonna have fun doing it.”

For the young volunteers of AmeriCorps, the Legacy Build is hardly a break from what they normally do. This IS what they normally do. In fact, they’ve worked at the site for a week before the build and will be here next week, as well, to deliver some finishing touches.

“We’re all very dedicated, dedicated to national service and dedicated to helping our communities,” said Evan Clark, a 19-year-old high school graduate from Illinois who decided to join AmeriCorps after meeting some of its members while she was on a mission trip to Bay St. Louis, Miss., where her group was working in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“I wasn’t ready for college quite yet, so I decided it was a good idea to help my country, and I didn’t want to go into the military, so here I am.”

Read about some more corporate sponsors at the Legacy Build. 

View more photos of our many groups and other volunteers by clicking here.