One positive thing that separates Cass county from other counties is the generosity and service that people provide for each other. There are countless non-profit organizations like Area 5, Cass County Community Foundation, and more that help the citizens of Cass County with just about anything. One other non-profit organization that has been in the community for over 80 years is United Way. They fund 29 programs through eleven partner agencies and their own impact work. Along with that, they are committed to enhancing lives through education, financial stability and health initiatives. This past Friday, September 9th, was Live United Day, and according to Pharos Tribune, there were a total of 540 volunteers in 38 events. Live United day has been Uniting community projects to eager volunteers since 2008 and is still going strong.

     To start, the Spanish club was among those volunteering, and they got some good work done this past Friday. There were around 50 students that volunteered in the club, and I personally was one of them. They were assigned to stay around our school corporation and do manual labor at Lewis Cass Elementary and the old Galveston Elementary, which is now a Polytechnic center. The Spanish club was assigned to basically redo the playgrounds of each location, meaning they would pull weeds, paint the play sets, etc. Having been to both, I personally would say they needed a serious makeover due to the years of decay and play they have endured over the years. 

     Furthermore, there were volunteers from all grade levels and most of the upperclassmen went to Lewis Cass Elementary and the other underclassmen went to Galveston to do similar work. The environment was full of excitement and energy at Lewis Cass Elementary because of the students and the large $4,000 speaker used to play some Spanish and English music. The music helped me maintain my work ethic personally, and I’m sure others could agree. When the upperclassmen arrived at the old playground full of weeds and chipped paint on the playsets, it was clear a great deal of work needed to be done. At once, everyone started to get to work, some starting to paint and others heading over to dismantle some weeds. 

     To continue, as myself and other students were pulling and compiling weeds, we encountered a multitude of roots under the ground just below the weeds themselves that were a pain to say the least. Each root could be up to 7 feet long and were difficult to pull out at times. Even though there was difficulty, the crew managed to keep working hard and get some things done. After each sector of ground was finished, there was a team consisting of 5 spanish club members that intertwined their rakes to level the ground full of moist and jumbled dirt. There were piles upon piles of weeds and roots lying around the playground and it took a good amount of time to bag them up.

     In conclusion, everything was packed into garbage bags and taken to the dumpster to be disposed of with help from maintenance man Chris Wilson. The playground looked almost new and the difference between before and after Spanish club service was similar to that of night and day. It was easy for myself and others to stay on task because of both Mrs. Karmel and Mrs. Mannering and their solid, Cass-like work ethic. All in all, the Spanish club did a great job in both Lewis Cass Elementary and old Galveston Elementary and played a part in serving the community on Live United Day. 

https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_726171aa-3064-11ed-816d-ff1a08711298.html

https://careers.unitedway.org/company/united-way-cass-county#:~:text=United%20Way%20of%20Cass%20County%20as%20been%20part%20of%20the,financial%20stability%20and%20health%20initiatives.

https://greatnonprofits.org/city/logansport/IN 

https://www.unitedwayofcasscounty.org/live-unitedr-day