February Extreme Endeavors: It's About the Relationships
EXTREME COMMUNITY MAKEOVER:
IT'S ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS
One of the unique things about Extreme Community Makeover is that each person who is involved has their own story about ECM which is tied to their unique experience. Thus, we would like to share some of these stories with you throughout the year. The first story comes from Eric, who is the leader of the Projects Team and has been volunteering with ECM since 2010.
The first time I volunteered with ECM was nearly ten years ago. I came as an individual, and ended up with a team of employees from a construction company. The homeowner primarily had lawn maintenance projects at first, which took most of the morning. After lunch, we came back and it turned out that the resident wanted to put up a fence along the side of his house. I’m thinking, this is a multi-day project, I can’t see this happening. But the team I was with, I mean, they solved problems. Someone made a couple phone calls, and pretty soon a truck drove up carrying a gas-powered fence post digger. Pretty soon, we were setting fence posts and nearly had the whole fence up. So with that I just figured, power tools… helping people… what’s not to like?
Since then, it’s really been the people I’ve encountered through ECM that have sustained me. There are a group of residents that are summer "regulars" that I always like to see. There have been some awesome volunteers, both from Denver and across the country, giving up their time to help. And I’ve met fantastic ECM staff and team members, who are just fun people and have been great to work with. For me, it’s not just about the individual projects that get done, but really it’s about the relationships formed along the way.
| Enjoy happy hour margaritas from Coyote Gold, dinner, and homemade desserts, along with an opportunity to hear more about ECM plans for the year and how you can get involved. Join us on Friday, March 13 from 6:30-8:30 pm at Converge Denver. |
| RSVP |
| We need a few more volunteers to join the Extreme Teams. Read more about the teams here or check out the website. |
| Get Involved |
| Our biggest project of the year in terms of the number of volunteers who participate on the same day is typically the Go: Westwood project, which will take place on Saturday, May 9 this year. We've had hundreds of volunteers join together to complete a variety of projects like clean-ups along Alameda Avenue and Morrison Road, community garden projects, graffiti removal, and art projects at a local school. We'll have a community celebration at the end of the day and there may even be Rockies tickets for the game that night for all the volunteers! 2020 Schedule: Saturdays: April 4, May 9, June 20, July 18, August 8, September 12, October 17Weekdays: June 9, June 25, July 7, July 23 |
| Volunteer |
Extreme Yard Care is the social enterprise of Extreme Community Makeover with the goals of providing employment opportunities in the neighborhoods where ECM works, providing options for ongoing services and bigger projects than are doable on volunteer days, and providing a source of revenue for non-profit projects.
We are currently hiring a Program Manager to oversee daily jobs and operations. Read the job description here and apply here. Please share with any people you know who may be interested.
I hope to see you at our upcoming Spring Kickoff event so I can share some of these opportunities with you in person!
Executive Director, Extreme Community Makeover