Make a Difference Day Requests Welcome

WAITSBURG – Plans for a massive Make A Difference Day clean-up and renovation of the Waitsburg fairgrounds in preparation for the creation of an equestrian center were discarded when Waitsburg’s City Council failed to approve the center’s master plan at their Sept. 20 regular meeting.

Instead, a scaled down work day will take place on Oct. 22, from 8 a.m. to noon, with a focus on the elderly and disabled. Citizens may contact the Waitsburg Commercial Club at (509) 539-8773 or email waitsburgcc@icloud.com if they know of a senior citizen or person with disabilities who could use help with outdoor chores or yardwork.

Hundreds of volunteers and skilled laborers from the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church of Walla Walla had originally agreed to coordinate with the Waitsburg Commercial and Waitsburg Friends of the Fairgrounds to spend Make a Difference Day in Waitsburg working on the fairgrounds. Each year, the church chooses a community and project to support with volunteer help.

The extensive work list for the equestrian center preparations included electrical work, painting, fencing, pasture and parking lot improvements, and more. When council members failed to approve the equestrian center master plan at their Sept. 20 meeting, Commercial Club President Joy Smith warned them that the church might not be willing to come to Waitsburg, after all.

“I think we can realistically aim for 300 volunteers, which is 1,200 man-hours. If we are not going to approve the equestrian proposal, we’ve got to redline a lot of this and probably send the church to another community,” Smith said, during the meeting. “There was some concern by this group when they came to me that if they didn’t have wholehearted approval, they wouldn’t come,” she added

Following the Sept. 20 city council meeting, Smith met with Waitsburg Historical Society members to see if they could use volunteer help. Plans were made for the volunteers to perform building renovations, painting, and foundation work at the Bruce and Wilson-Phillips House Museums and to do a deep clean of Town Hall, along with some electrical work there.

Smith said church representatives initially agreed to the change in focus from the fairgrounds to the Historical Society, but later decided they would instead send a smaller crew of 10 to 20 volunteers to do outdoor chores and yard work.

Volunteers from Waitsburg churches, community organizations, and youth organizations are invited to contribute their time along with the LDS church volunteers for service to others on Sat., Oct. 22 from 8 a.m. to noon. Please contact the Commercial Club with group or individual offers to help at (509) 539-8773 or email waitsburgcc@icloud.com.