Even on a rainy day, volunteers are making Camille Givens' yard look spotless.
"That is a tremendous help because when you are disabled and not employed, your resources financially become extremely limited," Givens said.
It's also a huge help because she could get a hefty fine from the city for an overgrown property.
A Kansas City advocacy group, The Whole Person, works to make day-to-day life a little easier on Camille, and the thousands of others with disabilities.
"We get requests all throughout the year for people that need help with their yards," Resource Development Manager Terri Goddard said. "People don't think about the people with disabilities having a hard time doing yard work, so we decided to combine it all into a couple days a year."
The Whole Person's staff invites the community to spread out across the metro on June 4, pulling weeds and cleaning gutters.
They don't have enough volunteers.
"We've had 22 applications come in, and right now we only have enough volunteers to do eight of those homes. I don't want to have to call these people and tell them they're going to have to wait," Goddard said.
Yard work isn't exactly fun, but it's giving people like Camille so much more.
"A lot of people with disabilities, they give up and go into nursing homes, and there's no reason for that," she said. "I think it's an excellent idea for people to get out in the community and feel good about themselves and to help other people."
Anyone is welcome to volunteer on June 4 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m..
To participate, call The Whole Person at (816) 561-0304.
Volunteers are asked to sign up by May 21, so they can attend a pre-meeting on the 25th at The Whole Person. At that time they'll be given t-shirts, water, first-aid kits, and their house assignments. They will go straight to the house the morning of June 4.
The Whole Person serves people with disabilities in four Missouri counties.
-------
Sarah Plake can be reached at Sarah.Plake@KSHB.com
