Last year, Hands On Greater Richmond rallied 500 volunteers during HandsOn Day. This year, that number doubled. The morning started in a crowded building early on Saturday at Richmond International Raceway. One thousand people from across the city gathered to lend a hand at forty different projects.

GayRVA partnered with HandsOn for the event sending volunteers to two different agencies. One of GayRVA’s teams tackled an extreme high school makeover at Huguenot High School to give the cafeteria and faculty lounge a lift. The other team spent the day at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens helping them prepare for their annual Gardenfest of Lights.

The Lewis Ginter team tackled a 19-foot tree that will be constructed for the holidays. Tom at the Gardens took the team to the boiler room to unpack the branches while giving a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes. The team spent the next few hours with volunteers from UPS snipping wires from the branches, fluffing, and adding new LED lights. The new LED lights are more energy efficient and will cut electrical costs. Lewis Ginter plans to eventually convert all of their Gardenfest lights to LED.

Among the 40 projects on Saturday, volunteers contributed an estimated 4,000 hours of community service at a value of approximately $83,000.

For more information on HandsOn Greater Richmond, visit http://www.handsongreaterrichmond.org/.  Photo by Eric Russell.