SERVE Noblesville: Annual volunteer effort to improve city expands in fifth year

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SERVE Noblesville will complete service projects downtown June 28 through July 1. (Photo by Sadie Hunter)

By Sadie Hunter

 

This week, SERVE Noblesville volunteers will be out and about in the community, donning their bright red shirts, to complete service projects that will help spruce up the city.

Over four full days, June 28 to July 1, more than 800 volunteers will donate their time to the effort that has completed hundreds of improvement projects since its inception five years ago.

Patrick Propst, chair of SERVE Noblesville and minister at Faith Community Church, said this year will be bigger and better than years prior.

In its first year, SERVE Noblesville completed 12 service projects. But this year, the  number will be more than quadrupled as volunteer groups complete more than 50 service projects around town.

“Projects are chosen essentially by what we’re able to find resources for,” Propst said. “We’ll do any project. We cover a broad range, which is rare for this type of organization. From craft projects to home and yard beautification and more, we get the idea for projects and figure out what the cost of materials is and see if we can get those donated or funded.”

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From left, SERVE Noblesville Chair Patrick Propst oversees Grace Church volunteers Linda Jackson and Nicole Oehler as they help build benches at the Boys & Girls Club of Noblesville during
2016’s SERVE Noblesville.
(Current file photos)

Propst said planning the annual event takes most of the year.

“We take July off, and then we start again in August,” he said. “Starting in August, we have monthly meetings until March or April, and then we go to two meets a month.”

Planning partners include Habitat for Humanity of Hamilton County; Noblesville Main Street; Grace Church; Bethel Lutheran Church; Green Valley Church of Christ; White River Christian Church; Faith Community Church; Emmanuel United Methodist Church; and Noblesville Young Life.

Propst said he believes this year will involve a lot of young people with groups like the Noblesville High School football team, Hamilton Heights girls soccer team and more joining in.

One annual event, the Teen Sweep, will involve anywhere from 60 to 80 teenagers as they descend on downtown Noblesville to sweep the sidewalks and clear them of debris. The effort helps clean up the area for the annual Street Dance, which will take place the following weekend, July 8.

Another youth group, Christ in Youth, will travel from Joplin, Mo., to take part as well.

“SERVE is about connecting people to people,” Propst said. “Where we continue to separate ourselves with technology and busyness, this is a way for the community to come out and make a difference together. We’re not as different as we all think.”

To learn more or to get involved, email [email protected], or visit servenoblesville.com. Unregistered volunteers can take part and be registered on-site, the morning of, as the group meets each morning at 8 a.m. at the 4-H Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St., Noblesville.

SERVE Noblesville will round out the week with a community cookout at Federal Hill Commons from 6 to 9 p.m. June 30. Everyone in the community is invited.

SCHEDULE OF PROJECTS

June 28

  • CIN COVER 0627 serve noblesville05
    Ava Rennard holds a dustpan as Cady Fields sweeps debris from a downtown alley during 2015 SERVE Noblesville days

    Noblesville park painting

  • Sidewalk clean-up
  • Crafts with a Cause
  • Kids Crafts with a Cause
  • U Call We Haul: pickups and haulers
  • U Call We Haul: sorters and organizers
  • Prayer team
  • Photographers
  • Kids Fair volunteers
  • White River Christian Church Habitat for Humanity build
  • Riverside Cemetery

June 29

  • Noblesville park painting
  • Sidewalk clean-up
  • Crafts with a Cause
  • Kids Crafts with a Cause
  • U Call We Haul: pickups and haulers
  • U Call We Haul: sorters and organizers
  • Prayer team
  • Photographers
  • Kids Fair volunteers
  • White River Christian Church Habitat for Humanity build
  • Riverside Cemetery
  • Million Meal Movement
  • Blood drive
  • South Street roof leak
  • Cicero Road window repair and house skirt

June 30

  • Noblesville park painting
  • Sidewalk clean-up
  • U Call We Haul: pickups and haulers
  • U Call We Haul: sorters and organizers
  • Prayer team
  • Photographers
  • Kids Fair volunteers
  • Teen Sweep
  • Westridge Deck Stain
  • Eighth Street house painting
  • South Street roof leak
  • Cicero Road window repair and house skirt
  • South Ninth Street kitchen floor
  • South Ninth Street garage
  • North Nixon Street roof and ceiling
  • Lunch packers

July 1

  • Prayer team
  • Photographers
  • Boys & Girls Club
  • Giveaway helpers
  • Giveaway tear down
  • Eighth Street house paint
  • Faith Community Church Habitat for Humanity Build
  • South Street roof leak
  • South Ninth Street kitchen floor
  • South Ninth Street garage
  • North Nixon Street roof and ceiling
  • Cicero Road deck replacement

To volunteer for any of these projects, visit servenoblesville.com.


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