Continue spirit of helping through holidays

On Oct. 24, a swarm of generosity descended on Chandler for the annual Live Love Day. Live Love is a locally based nonprofit working to fuel a movement of people who are committed to changing the world around them through volunteerism.

Live Love Day is held in conjunction with the nationally recognized Make a Difference Day. This year, an estimated 800 people helped clean up property and trail systems, paint houses, landscape yards and renovate places like ICAN (Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods) and the Chandler Christian Community Center.

Live Love brings people together to help those less fortunate through a day of hard work and compassion. Having been involved in many such efforts, I was still taken aback by the sheer numbers of those who volunteered. It was truly remarkable to see how much positive change can occur when people work together toward a single goal.

It was estimated that the average person volunteered six hours of time on that day, meaning that nearly 5,000 hours of time were spent organizing and working to make our community a better place. In total, 75 projects were completed. Five additional projects will be completed by the end of the year.

In today's economic times, these campaigns become critical not just to aid the city in keeping Chandler a sustainable community, but also in helping out neighbors who, for perhaps the first time in their lives, find they need a little extra help.

But Live Love is just one example of people working in unison to do good things for others. Churches, civic groups, schools and clubs have been making wonderful things happen throughout the area for decades. The For Our City Initiative, brought forward by Mayor Boyd Dunn and organized by former councilman Kevin Hartke, is another prime example of how we can better harness the power of people.

In fact, in one of its first efforts out of the block, Hartke's For Our City was instrumental in helping to coordinate the Make A Difference Day activities this year. If you'd like to become more involved in future efforts, visit www.whatislivelove.com or www.forourcity.org. There are many new efforts being planned, particularly with the holidays on the way.

And that was a busy day in Chandler because it also involved the police department's annual GAIN (Getting Arizona Involved in Neighborhoods) event. That afternoon and evening no less than 32 Chandler neighborhoods organized events to get their fellow residents more involved.

GAIN is an annual, statewide crime prevention celebration that allows members of our police and fire departments a chance to show their appreciation for those in the community who support their daily efforts to keep Chandler safe. The event takes the form of block parties in various neighborhoods and multi-housing communities throughout Chandler. Police and fire personnel and displays can be requested for the parties.

If you would like information on how to coordinate an event for next year, visit www.chandlerpd.com. Both the police and fire departments deserve an incredible amount of thanks, not just for what they do every day, but for their generosity in opening themselves to the community in events like this.

And, of course, those 800 volunteers need a big pat on the back for giving up much of a Saturday to make their community a better place, and to simply lend their neighbors a hand.

Rick Heumann is a member of the Chandler City Council.