Hundreds of volunteers ‘rake up’ local goodwill

Jill Meier

Journal editor

Forty-five lawns.

Hundreds of volunteers, young and old alike.

Combined, they made the perfect set-up for the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Rake the Town event.

On Friday, about 200 Brandon Valley Intermediate School kids joined teams of Chamber member volunteers, the boys’ basketball program and high school SALSA group to do just that.

For fifth-grader Kinley Williams, she chose to rake for her part in the school’s Challenge Day.

“It’s just a good thing to do and it helps your community,” she said.

Madalyn Twedt echoed her classmate’s comments.

“Because some people can’t rake, we’re doing it for kindness. Some people have disabilities and can’t really do a lot of stuff, but you can rake for them so they can have a good day,” she said.

Outside of Bob Miller’s home, a team of more than 20 Midco employees not only raked up bags of leaves from Miller’s lawn, but raked in some goodwill.

“This is the nicest thing that’s ever happened to us,” Miller said. ‘This has never happened. We are flabbergasted. We would have to either hire it or try to struggle ourselves to do it. My wife is 76 and I’m going to be 74 in another week or two, and we can never thank these people enough. They don’t know how much it means.”

Sonja Borchardt was one of the Midco volunteers. She said company staff likes to be part of the community and giving back.

“It’s a fun way to get out and have some team bonding,” she said.

Across the street, Paul VanDeBerg from Alliance Communications was cleaning up one of the six yards they were assigned.

“Every year we get more volunteers signed up because they enjoy doing it,” he said. “It is a lot of work … but what a nice benefit to our community and to our customers.”

After school, the Lynx boys’ basketball program went to work on 90-year-old Vern Eckman’s lawn. Eckman, however, was a bit nervous as the day wore on and no one had shown up at his home.

“I was expecting six or eight, and cars just started pulling up in front of my house, lining both sides of the street,” he said.

In all total, 16 tall and lanky basketball players came armed with rakes and the will to perform community service. About an hour later, Eckman said his yard was raked.

“I told Craig (Nelson, coach) that only is Brandon, S.D., would something like this happen.

Mason Will, owner of Will Do It, a lawncare, leaf clean-up and snow removal business, went to work on a property outside of the city limits. He formed his business in the winter of 2019 after a neighbor in Omaha asked him to do some shoveling. The Will family is now in their second year of living in Brandon and Will’s business has grown from a shovel to a commercial mower and snowblower.

“It’s a great way for me to get the business name out there and giving back to the community through the chamber of commerce,” said the BVHS freshman.

His dad, Matt, describes his son as “a giver.”

“He’s going to be working on his Eagle project for Boy Scouts,” Matt said. “It’s an important opportunity for us to give back to the community.”

In case you’re in the need for the services of Will Do It, call (605) 215-8829.