United Way organizes Day of Action volunteer effort across Vermilion Parish

More than 530 volunteers made investments in communities across Acadiana last Friday as part of the United Way of Acadiana’s annual Day of Action.
In Vermilion Parish, schools served as the heart of the effort. Local volunteers conducted projects at schools from Gueydan to Erath and in between.
“We have about eight projects going on right now,” Vermilion Parish School Wellness Coordinator Paula Jones said Friday morning. “They are doing everything from playground refurbishing to school gardens.
“It’s a very positive thing.”
This marks the second year that the Vermilion Parish School System has partnered with United Way of Acadiana for the Day of Action.
“It has just grown,” Jones said. “We are so thrilled to have all of this volunteer and community support.”
Some of that support came courtesy of employees of Baker Hughes, who constructed a bed for a garden at J.H. Williams Middle School in Abbeville. John Raggio, a production manager with Baker Hughes, said the effort is part of the company helping to further strengthening communities where so many its members are a part of.
“We all live in these communities,” Raggio said. “We all love working for Baker Hughes and this is a way for us to get out and be more ingrained in the community.”
The Baker Hughes boys were not the only helping hands at J.H. Williams Friday morning. Principal Dana Primeaux, teachers and students put in some work, too.
“It’s definitely a positive for the school,” Primeaux said. “We appreciate all of the volunteers who came and the kids who came. We had two teacher sponsors and members of the student council and our Beta Club. This is just a great activity.
“This is beautifying our school and it’s something that our entire student body is going to see.”
The garden bed completed by the Baker Hughes volunteers will be officially put to use when J.H.
Williams students return in August.
“We are going to come back with the dirt and the limestone,” Primeaux said. “Then we will plant and finish everything off. If we did all of that right now, there would not be anyone to take care of it. It’s much easier when we are here on a daily basis.”
For the students, it will be something they will create and maintain.
“It is something they will be able to call their own,” Primeaux said. “Our science classes will be able to utilize it, to see how things grow. It just ties into our curriculum perfectly.
“This is something that adds beauty and that the kids will take part in.”