Clean Up Bay Pines VA Campus
(BAY PINES, FLORIDA) —United Way of Tampa Bay’s volunteer program HandsOn Tampa Bay (HOT) is hosting the annual HandsOn Tampa Bay Day on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at the Bay Pines Veterans Healthcare System, Bay Pines, FL. Individuals and organizations throughout the Tampa Bay area will spend their Saturday morning volunteering to improve the campus of Bay Pines.
"Bay Pines is so thankful for the work HandsOn Tampa Bay volunteers do for our veterans," said Faith Belcher, Bay Pines spokesperson. "Almost 94,000 veterans visit the Bay Pines VA and the work these generous volunteers are doing will affect every one of them. It means a lot to us that we were chosen again for the annual HOT Day. This is a real display of community support for our nation’s heroes."
This is the third year that Bay Pines will host United Way. Last year, the volunteers completed an impressive amount of work, including:
- Nearly 500 bags of trash picked up along the coastline
- 30 yards of mulch spread
- More than 150 park benches painted
- 178 wheelchairs cleaned
- Nearly 100 veterans visited
The Bay Pines campus will receive its own ‘home’ makeover, complete with landscaping, painting, cleanup, and numerous other projects, including a group that will sit, chat and play games with the resident veterans. Four hundred volunteers will assist with 15 projects throughout the Bay Pines campus.
"This day is special because we are following our United Way message: Live United. To have 400 volunteers do the immense amount of work here is truly amazing," said Betty Tribble, Vice President of Volunteer Services for United Way of Tampa Bay. "We’ve been told by the Bay Pines staff that our work in just one day would take them 10 years to complete. We’re truly creating lasting change for our veterans and our community."
HandsOn Tampa Bay (HOT) is a volunteer program of the United Way of Tampa Bay, offering up to 60 volunteer projects every month throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. Visit www.unitedwayoftampabay.org or www.volunteertampabay.com for more information.
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Photo/ interview op: There will be photo and B-roll opportunities during the volunteer projects with United Way volunteers in action from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Interviews will be available with Betty Tribble, United Way of Tampa Bay Vice President of Volunteer Services, and Faith Belcher, VA Health System Specialist for Public Affairs at 9:30 a.m. following the event’s opening activities.
