DALE CITY — On Saturday, Leadership Prince William (LPW) and Comcast saw a record-breaking 318 volunteers in a day of service.
This is the fifth consecutive year that LPW and Comcast have teamed up on a local community service project for the annual Comcast Cares Day. According to LPW Executive Director Andrea Money, the normal turnout for these events is around 200 to 250 people.
Volunteers came together on the grounds of The Arc of Greater Prince William in Dale City, a nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for people with developmental disorders.
Projects included revitalization efforts at the adjacent John D. Jenkins Park, painting the interior of the Muriel Humphrey Childcare Center for the Arc, and extensive exterior improvements to the Arc grounds; from landscaping to painting playground equipment and over 100 yards of curb.
Volunteers also built furniture for the classrooms at the Arc and planted native wildflower seeds at John Jenkins Park.
Money told Potomac Local about how the special day was planned.
“Each year the members of our Adult Signature Program work in teams to propose various projects for Comcast Cares Day,” she said. “We submit the proposals to Comcast for a final decision. The team that put together the ARC project proposal had such a passion for helping people with disabilities, and it really stood out. The entire Leadership Prince William Class of 2019 threw their weight behind the project and it came together in a huge way. I think that passion extended to the volunteer sign-ups as well. We have never had this many volunteers on any other project. Eventually we actually had to close the registration because we had exceeded the estimated needed by over 100 people. It was clearly the right time for this project.”
According to Money, the LPW Class of 2019 raised $20,000 in cash and in-kind support for the projects. Comcast employees made up around 20% of the volunteer brigade which also included the Colgan High School baseball team, Leadership Prince William Alumni, a girl scout troop, a local softball team, a handful of residents from Birmingham Green and members of Potomac Valley Church.
Michael Carter, a Master Plumber and the Plumbing Program teacher at Gar-Field High School came out and replaced sinks and toilets in four of the bathrooms in the Arc’s Childcare Center in advance of the project day.
Sponsors and supporters for the day included: COMCAST; The members of the LPW Class of 2019; First Light Home Care of Woodbridge; Dominion Energy; Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center; Workgroup Consulting, LLC; Livesay & Meyers PC; Dale City Moose Lodge 2165; Didlake, Inc.; Freddie Mac; American Disposal; MiBox of Northern Virginia; Cardinal Management Group; Bristle & Yi Law; Community Residences, Inc.; Micron Technology; Northern Virginia Community College-Manassas Campus; The Bull Run Manassas Kiwanis Club; ImagiNation Learning Center; Mike Garcia Construction and Harris Teeter. Leadership Prince William credits their partnership with Comcast and the Prince William County Department of Parks & Recreation with the success of this year’s project.
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