For the past three years, Porter County United Way has teamed up with the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to host the 2011 Youth Day of Caring. Porter County United Way encourages high school students, youth groups, and athletic teams, from Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties to form a team to volunteer for this amazing opportunity.
On Saturday, August 27, 2011, youth from a variety of places in Northwest Indiana met at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore at Bailey Homestead Chellberg Farm to volunteer for this year's Youth Day of Caring.
The Director of the United Way Regional Volunteer Center, Kathy Woykovich stated, "We feel that this is a great way to start the school year on a positive note and help out with projects at our one of our greatest natural resource."
Curtis Lloyd, a team member from the Portage High School ROTC, said, "We are helping today because we are a group of kids who want to do something good for the community."
The President of United Way of Porter County, Sharon Kish, was very pleased with the turnout of volunteers. She stated, "I'm delighted that there are so many kids who come from all over to help preserve the environment."
The projects for this event were provided by the National Park Service. They came well prepared with all the supplies that was needed for each person who was volunteering.
The volunteer's projects were all to help restore natural elements of the park. Some teams were cutting down vines that were growing up the trees and killing the them while others were planting new flowers and weeding gardens.
Some work was performed in Inland Marsh in Gary, Indiana. "The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore bought some houses because Congress authorized in 1970's to purchase them. Teams will be boarding up the houses and removing things from them to donate to Habitat for Humanity," stated Lynda Lancaster, who works for the National Park Services.
One of the bigger projects took place in Cowles Bog. Teams removed unwanted cattail and other specific plants that are doing more harm than good to the environment. "Cowles Bog was the land that became the National Lakeshore. It was the laboratory where Henry Cowles and his students developed the field of Ecology. It's still a living lab where we are learning how to protect and restore the native species so you can come out and see the Karner Blue Butterfly," explained Lynda Lancaster.
The Times Media Company, BP, Nipsco, Strongbow, Porter Health System, Radio One Communications, and WalMart of Valparaiso sponsored this event for the Porter County United Way. The Valparaiso WalMart provided all of the hot dogs, watermelons, and chips for the picnic that was following the youth's day of hard work.
For more information about United Way of Porter County, click here!