An orange wave washed over Jefferson City again Friday.
Scores of orange T-shirt-clad volunteers fanned out to provide services to nonprofit agencies on the second day of the United Way of Central Missouri’s Days of Caring.
One stop for volunteers on Friday was Little Explorers Discovery Center, whose mission is to provide quality early childhood education services in a caring environment primarily for children of low- and middle-income working families, according to its website.
A yellow school bus backed into the center early Friday afternoon, and 28 orange-clad students tumbled out. The students, all members of the National Honor Society at Russellville High School, set to work on a number of tasks needing care. Some raked lawns. Others sorted through and separated boxes and boxes of supplies. Several washed windows. A group broke away and cleaned rugs. Several of the students who were fully vaccinated were “tasked” with playing with some of the center’s charges.
Katelyn Crafton and Jadyn Morris, both 16-year-old juniors, stepped into a room containing an instructor and four small children.
KJ, 2, walked back and forth pushing a Fisher-Price-style corn popper toy. He suddenly stopped and started playing with a green toy tractor.
It wasn’t long before the Russellville students were cross-legged on the floor, playing with 3-year-old twins Beau and Lane Distler.
Beau pushed a toy bus back and forth with one hand and a bulldozer with the other.
“He’s going to go dig,” Beau said.
Then, the brothers offered a rendition of the Camel Song, which basically says, “Sit up straight. Never slump. Or you’ll be a camel, with a hump.”
A high school science teacher and the National Honor Society sponsor at Russellville, Emily Hager said Days of Caring was a chance for students to get in a great deal of community service as a group.
“One of our pillars is service,” Hager said. “We were open to whatever service they had for us.”
An opportunity for those who support the United Way to connect with nonprofit agencies, Days of Caring is a two-day volunteer effort the United Way has organized for several years.
The United Way serves a nine-county region — Cole, Camden, Maries, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Osage, Phelps and southern Callaway.
It helps fund 28 partner agencies: 4-H, Adult Basic Literacy and Education (ABLE); Court Appointed Special Advocates; American Red Cross (Central and Northern Missouri Chapter); Jefferson City Area YMCA; Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association; The Sneaker Project; Rape and Abuse Crisis Service; Senior Nutrition Program of Jefferson City and Cole County; and many more. The full list of agencies can be found at the United Way website, unitedwaycemo.org.
Paige Randolph, who is a 17-year-old senior at Russellville, said the teenagers hadn’t had very many opportunities to volunteer for projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Certainly, the students hadn’t been able to travel in large groups to perform service.
“More places are letting us volunteer now,” Randolph said. “We’re going to start a Pen Pal project with a nursing home.”
She added that students are able to find more (smaller) projects they can do as individuals to meet requirements from the Honor Society.
Josie Stewart, the 17-year-old junior president for the Honor Society, took a break from washing rugs and chairs, and said it didn’t matter what jobs students were assigned.
“We get to be here together, like a team,” Stewart said. “It’s a little more fun to be working together.”
