Like so many seniors, Esther Young lives alone, her husband dead, her children scattered across several states.

Even “going on 78,” Young still handles her own trips to the doctor and the grocery store and takes care of her own housekeeping. What she can’t do is the outdoor work. That’s where Faith in Action and the United Way’s Live United Day come together to make Young’s life easier.

Every spring for the past several years, Nancy Galbraith, volunteer coordinator for Faith in Action in Benton County, has posted Young’s to-do list as a possible project for Live United Day. For the past three years, a team from Walmart Distribution Center 6051 has signed up for the job. They’ve already committed for this year’s Live United Day on March 13.

“They come in with all their equipment - blowers, weed eaters - and just transform the yard for her,” Galbraith said. “They power wash the porch, do the windows and sidewalk,” trim the bushes and hedges that Young’s husband planted, “then they haul the debris away for her.”

“They know what to bring, they know her, and they know what kind of jobs need to be done,” she says. “I don’t know if there’s anything they can’t tackle.”

Young, of course, is right outside in the middle of the work.

“I guess I like to talk,” she says with a chuckle. “I enjoy being out there with them. They’re all very nice people.”

Over the years, Young has come to accept her limitations.

“I can’t mow anymore, I’ll guarantee you,” she says. “I can manage some of it, but I can’t manage all of it. I can’t clean gutters. My biggest deal right now is washing windows on the outside; I can’t get to them anymore. No climbing, that’s what everybody tells me.”

Faith in Action focuses on helping seniors 60 and older with nonmedical services, transportion and grocery shopping, Galbraith explained. Many of their clients are homebound, “but we also help people like Esther. She’s tiny but mighty!”

According to the United Way website, Live United Day volunteers can take part in a wide variety of projects, from delivering meals to homebound seniors to planting gardens, from organizing files in a healthcare clinic or painting an emergency shelter.

Jill Standage, a replenishment manager with Sam’s Club, and a group of eight to 10 of her colleagues worked at a women’s shelter last year. Among the odd jobs they helped do were clean out a shed, fix some furniture and paint the red fire lane on the curb.

“It’s an event the company supports, and they ask for volunteers,” she said. “It’s not hard work, but it’s very rewarding.”

Bendi Toland, manager of the volunteer center for United Way of Northwest Arkansas, said Live United Day is one of the largest one day volunteer efforts of the year.

“Northwest Arkansas unites to serve Benton, Madison and Washington counties in Arkansas and McDonald County in Missouri,” she says. “In 2011, more than 800 volunteers participated, and $89,744 worth of volunteer time was accomplished on Live United Way.”

Life, Pages 6 on 02/27/2013