80 volunteers take part in company's annual Volunteer Impact Day
Eighty volunteers from The Quartz Corp. rolled up their sleeves and completed several key community projects around the region this past week as part of the company’s annual Volunteer Impact Day.
One group of volunteers beautified and restructured the playground on the Bakersville Creek Walk, another group built and installed garden beds at Riverside and Banner Elk Elementary schools and some volunteers performed groundskeeping and established a new student seating area at East Yancey Middle.
Some volunteers replaced the entrance deck at Shepherd’s Staff Food Bank. Others performed heating installation and home repairs for the elderly to assist W.A.M.Y and Hospice and Home Care of the Blue Ridge.
Bakersville Mayor Charles “Chuck” Vines personally thanked the volunteers for their work on the playground.
Volunteers put in a new drain system in the playground to keep water from building up. They also added new mulch, removed the water holding boat, landscaped the slide on the bank and built a new shelter for picnic tables.
The Quartz Corp. and its volunteers provided all labor and materials.
“They were out there all day,” Vines said. “Some of them even came back the next day. We’re so appreciative of the work they did.”
Vines also wrote a letter to The Quartz Corp. thanking them for providing the valuable service, adding that the work on the playground was much-needed.
County commissioner and Bakersville resident Matthew “Vern” Grindstaff also thanked the company.
“Quartz did not have to do this, but they wanted to invest in their community and the children of the community,” he said. “As a citizen, I am very grateful for their generosity and appreciate the investment they made into this.”
Volunteers from The Quartz Corp. were at work in the community this time last year, too. In August 2020, company volunteers completed several local projects including the construction and installation of beds in the Mitchell Giving Gardens in Spruce Pine Riverside Park as part of the annual Volunteer Impact Day.
Courtney Aycock, senior human resources representative at Quartz, said the group of volunteers made a big impression again in 2021.
“COVID protocols required outdoor projects and small teams,” she said. “But that didn’t diminish the big impact on the community.”