Hey seniors, need a hand with yard work?
Brad Blodnick, left, and Connie Wills, right, help home owner Connie Holden straighten a raspberry bush in her back yard during the 2016 Rake and Run event. This year, Rake N' Run is being reintroduced by Advanced Home Care and Hospice of North Idaho to have volunteers clean local seniors' yards on April 29.
Devin Weeks/Press File
Volunteers gather to celebrate after a successful Rake and Run event. This year, the Rake N' Run is being reintroduced to provide free spring yard cleanup for local seniors on April 29. Organizers are seeking more cleanup sites and volunteers. Email Tiffinay Walker at Tiwalker@AHC.US or call 208-512-0814 by April 26 for info.
An altruistic army of volunteers will be out in the community starting at 9 a.m. April 29.
Advanced Home Care and Hospice of Northern Idaho is presenting the 2021 Rake N' Run event, a day for seniors and those in need to have their yards spruced up at no charge.
"Anybody who can’t do it themselves," Tiffinay Walker, hospice community relations director with Advanced Home Care and Hospice of Northern Idaho, said Wednesday. "It really is giving back to the community. We’d like to focus on our elderly, but also disabled, anybody who needs a little help. We’re not going to say no."
So far, eight teams are signed up to conduct spring cleaning at four local private homes. Walker said she would love to see at least 20 more houses join the list. Volunteers will rake leaves, clear branches and logs and help with whatever else needs to be done.
"The goal is to do everything we possibly can in about an hour," Walker said. "We have numerous trailers coming, so we’ll be able to haul away leaves."
This year the Rake N' Run is being reintroduced as it has been a few years since the former Rake and Run event took place. Teams will enjoy friendly competitions, games and prizes. A pizza afterparty will be held to celebrate a day of good work and goodwill.
"I have found over the years our participants get more out of it than they give," Walker said. "Seeing someone’s face, when you have cleaned up their yard, they are just so thankful and appreciative for everything you do. It's not a feeling you can recreate in any way.
"It’s people that have probably done these kinds of things for other people," she said. "Now it’s their turn to get it back from the younger generations."
For the 2021 Rake N' Run, the more the merrier, Walker said.
To volunteer or to have your yard cleaned, email Walker at Tiwalker@AHC.US or call 208-512-0814 by April 26.
