GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Operation United mobilized volunteer teams Friday to serve more than a dozen local military veterans, current service members and their families.
It’s part of a partnership with Heart of West Michigan United Way and The Home Depot Foundation.
Operation United takes nominations for families that could use a boost.
In total, volunteers completed landscaping and outdoor home repairs for 18 different families throughout Kent County, including in Cedar Springs, Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Rockford and Wyoming.
“This is our annual day of service where we give back to veterans in our community.”
Heart of West Michigan United Way facilitated the projects which included painting, refuse removal, mulching, planting and lawn mowing.
“We really discovered that it’s more than just landscaping,” Maribeth Groen, director of marketing and communications of Heart of West Michigan United Way, said. “For them, it’s a sense of connection…For a lot of our older veterans, they don’t have a lot of visitors and to have a whole team show up and just to have someone put attention to them is amazing.”
“I am teary-eyed for real, you know, I keep wiping my tears away. I’m just excited that I was chosen,” Charell Forrest, an Army veteran, said. “Me and my husband always say, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go out there and put some mulch down, dig up the yard,’ and the best we can do is mow the grass because we have such a busy schedule.”
Skilled volunteers from Team Depot, Home Depot’s associate volunteer force, along with other local businesses, completed the projects.
“I’ve been involved with United Way for quite a few years, and they do a great job,” Ryan Mclean, the CEO of Comfort Research who volunteered Friday, told FOX 17. “It’s been a great event and it’s fun just to get out and do some manual labor and [a] change of pace.”
The Home Depot Foundation, Fifth Third Bank and other local businesses, including Comfort Research, sponsored and funded these projects.
“It’s very important for us to give back and just be part of the community. I mean, one of the things we value a lot is being part of the community and this just gets people out of the office and get to see what’s going on in our community and help out a bit,” Mclean added.
If you’re interested in nominating yourself or someone else for next year’s day of service, click here to be added to the list.
Heart of West Michigan will contact you next January when it opens the nomination process.
“If any veteran needs any kind of assistance, they can call 211,” Groen added. “If they need food, utilities, we really want veterans to know that there [is] assistance out there and not to be afraid to reach out.”
