Second Saturday looks for volunteers
By Angela Greiner Community Reporter

(l to r) Mercy and Sarah Loizeaux display toiletries needed for one of Grace Baptist Church's Second Saturday projects, creating "comfort packages" for the American Red Cross. PHOTO/SUBMITTED

Hudson - For anyone who has said, "I would love to do some volunteer work, but I just don't have time," Grace Baptist Church in Hudson has created an opportunity to put in a couple of hours of volunteer work once a month. Dubbed "Second Saturday," the events are open to community members.

On Saturday April 12, service projects will focus on emergency preparedness and the celebration of Earth Day. No sign-ups are needed. Residents interested in volunteering can meet at the church, at 353 River Road, at 8:30 a.m.

Volunteers will disperse to a variety of projects that will finish by noon.

Lynn Faust, a Second Saturday founding member, explained that Second Saturday projects include knitting items for pregnant women in need in Worcester and house calls to needy residents to provide handyman services.

In the spirit of Earth Day, this month's participants can choose from projects like yard clean-ups for the elderly and a clean-up of Wood Park in Hudson. Volunteers involved with clean-ups are asked to bring gloves and gardening equipment, such as rakes.

For those interested in an indoor activity, the group will be creating "comfort packages" for the American Red Cross. Faust explained that the group decided to make the packages after a fellow organizer, Sarah Loizeaux, discovered that the Red Cross was not able to give support to local victims of fire because they were out of the packages.

Getting volunteers plugged into a project for several hours, rather than making a huge time commitment made sense to the Second Saturday founders.. The organizers identify manageable monthly projects for the volunteers. They modeled the program after one in Indiana.

"We knew that people wanted to volunteer," Faust said, "but they are busy and they want to be done when they are done."

Grace Baptist Pastor Dave Bennett explained in a recent press release that the volunteer program was designed for busy people of all ages.

"An expression of love towards our community is to serve them, and Second Saturday helps people express their love in practical ways," he said.

The monthly service projects were launched in the summer of 2007 with a "Totally Free Garage Sale" and about 50 volunteers. As word has spread, the organizers grew the program, off ering the large groups of volunteers a choice of several projects to participate in.

"When we first began the project, we were warned by the group in Indiana that the number of people volunteering would grow very quickly," Faust said.

The group is now averaging between 70 and 100 people monthly and anticipates growing to 200 people before the end of the year.

Over the past several months, the group has participated in painting the Boys & Girls Club and local schools in Marlborough, donating supplies to soup kitchens, sorting food, and packing boxes at local charities.

"Many of our volunteers are not from the church and it is great to work and connect with residents shoulder to shoulder," Faust said.