Volunteers spread ‘caring’ across county

Lynn Wloszek

The United Way of Isabella County kicked off this year’s “What Matters …
Is You” campaign Saturday with the 10th annual “Day of Caring” celebration.

Ken Hofmeister, the group’s president, said the Day of Caring is supposed to inform individuals of the campaign’s initiatives.

“These are always things that will make people aware of things going on with the campaign,” Hofmeister said.

Saturday’s event began with a breakfast at the Isabella County Fairgrounds, said Nicole Bliss, United Way executive director.

Bliss said the group’s goals are not as focused on the amount of dollars raised as it is on the number of individual donors.

“This year we decided that it’s more important to get folks into the philanthropic family of the United Way,” Bliss said.

Hofmeister, this year’s campaign chairman, said after breakfast, the teams
of volunteers went out in the community and worked on one of 16 different
community service projects in Mount Pleasant.

Amy Town, director of the United Way Volunteer Center, said some of the
projects were repair work and cleaning on three separate Commission on Aging
homes, light landscaping and planting flowers at community agencies and assisting
other community groups with fund-raisers.

“One team helped set up tables and sort through books for a book sale at the Veteran’s Library,” Town said.

Town said Saturday’s volunteer teams made great strides in community service.

“I think all of the teams went away with the feeling of doing something
good for the community,” she said. “Everyone went away with a sense of accomplishment.”

Hofmeister said area businesses, which are partners with the group, hosted
various fund-raising and community services to supplement the volunteer projects.

Heritage Automall, 4650 E. Pickard Road, hosted a child car seat safety
check, where child safety seats were inspected, Hofmeister said.

The inspections were conducted by members of the Child and Family Enrichment Council, Town said.

Inspections included checking to make sure seats were installed properly,
properly placed in the vehicle and checking to ensure no existing parts were
currently on recall, Town said.

Krapohl Ford Lincoln-Mercury, 1415 E. Pickard Road, sponsored one of the
kick-off events by donating all proceeds of oil changes to the group’s campaign
fundraising, Hofmeister said.

“Krapohl has donated oil changes for the second year in a row,” Hofmeister said.

Tom Krapohl, owner of Krapohl Ford, said the event at his dealership was
a success, with more than $1,500 raised in oil changes and car washes.

Krapohl, who said his dealership has been involved with the local United
Way since it opened its doors in 1950, said he intends on making the oil
change fund-raiser an annual event.

“It’s a fun way to kick it (the campaign) off,” he said. “It gets my whole store involved.”

Other area businesses involved in the kickoff included: Logos Galore,
115 S. Main St.; Max and Emily’s Bakery Cafe, 125 E. Broadway St.; Isabella
Bank and Trust, 200 E. Broadway St.; Chippewa Beverage Company, 210 W. Pickard
Ave.; and Firstbank of Mount Pleasant.