Volunteers fanned out all over St. Mary’s County Saturday to do some really hard work. They climbed on roofs to nail shingles, they banged nails into siding, they painted mailboxes and flag poles and they planted trees and shrubbery. Some even did some not-so hard work of sitting in front of grocery stores and collecting donations. Others cooked and served beer. An army of 12-13 hundred people made up this year’s St. Mary’s County Christmas in April, an annual event since 1991.
The volunteers worked at 15 homes and at the non-profit Summerseat Farm. All of that hard work could easily be measured in the smiling faces of homeowners such as 88-year-old Patricia Scriber on Mojave Drive in California, who recently lost her husband, or 93 year old Agnes Baker on Independence Drive in Mechanicsville or Ronald Blackwell, a pioneer in Patuxent Park, where he has lived since 1943, the year the subdivision was built by the Navy.
After the hard day’s work the volunteers assembled at the St. Mary’s County Fairgrounds for a bounteous buffet of food and drink donated by a number of restaurants and volunteer organizations. At the party Christmas in April Board President Howard Thompson and Executive Director Darene Kleinsorgen thanked the volunteers and handed out certificates.
This year Kleinsorgen said the materials distribution centers were divided into three sections of the county, with Mechanicsville Building Supply handling the north, Dunkirk Supply handling the central county and Dyson Lumber in the south. She said the new arrangement went smoothly.
With the visible hard work over, the behind-the-scenes work begins as the board members start the selection process to choose the homes which will get the volunteers labor of love at next year’s Christmas in April.
