Sporadic bursts of rain postponed and adjourned some projects early for the first VEISHEA Service Day. Throughout the day volunteers were forced into the tiny tent lodging a free barbecue lunch or else into cars or buildings. Still, those volunteers showed up en masse Saturday to donate their time and labor.

“I think overall the rain didn’t have a huge effect on the outcome of the projects,” said Shallee Keenan, Veishea campus and community involvement co-chairwoman and senior in sociology. “We still met our goals in what we wanted to do.”

This was the first year of operation for VEISHEA Service Day. Last year, the only community service activity affiliated with Veishea was Operation Playground, a student-based project dedicated to erecting playground equipment in Ames. The decision was made this year to increase the scope and to assign volunteers to one of more than 25 service projects planned.

“The need for that has been proven by the amount of volunteers,” said Magann Orth, co-chairwoman of the Veishea Large Scale Community Service Projects Committee and freshman in elementary education. “That just proves that we needed something more.”

There were an estimated 400 people who signed up to work assigned jobs Saturday. An additional estimated 400 volunteered for the annual Stash the Trash campaign, for a total of about 800 volunteers – a number dwarfing that of previous years.

“Every year, there has been so many volunteers that we couldn’t accommodate everybody,” said Jenna Thompson, co-chairwoman of the Veishea campus and community involvement committee and junior in architecture. “[This year] we could get everyone who wanted to be involved.”

The slogan for VEISHEA Service Day is “One big community, one big thanks, one big event.” The slogan is an addition to the overall mission statement of Veishea – a “one community” mission.

“This day is about everyone getting together to just say ‘thank you’ and give back to Ames and Iowa State,” Thompson said.

Many of the student volunteers’ work served a dual role Saturday – time spent working during VEISHEA Service Day was also applicable toward hours for the 10,000 Hours Show, a free concert for Iowa college students who pledge 10 hours of community service.

“It’s a great way for volunteers to get their hours in before the show,” said Adam DeMarie, 10,000 Hours media relations manager and senior in English. “It’s worked out really well for both groups.”

Stash the Trash is an annual Ames cleanup project that partnered with Veishea this year. The event’s co-chairmen are Dave Kraemer and Russ Cross, and the event was sponsored by the Ames Tribune.

“It’s a good community-building effort, and I’m glad to see it grow this year,” Kraemer said.

He said a key element of the springtime effort is the visibility of trash once the snow melts.

“We do it to help beautify the place,” he said. “It helps build a little bit of environmental awareness in people. We’re not talking about global warming, or toxic waste, you know, but it gets people out there.”

Greg Vitale is a member of the Skunk River Paddlers, Kraemer’s cleanup group. He said his group’s primary concern was the river.

“We were actually surprised at how much trash we found in the river,” he said. “We ended up with about a pickup full.”

Many Stash the Trash volunteers found themselves tasked with cleaning up after the recent winter storms in Ames, not just litter.

“There’s a lot more sticks down because of the ice storms we had,” said Andrew Isaacson, Veishea special events co-chairman and junior in agricultural business.

Lad Grove, owner of Grove Real Estate, oversaw the trash cleanup of some of his rental properties.

“I was pleasantly surprised at how industrious and hardworking my group has been,” Grove said. “They’ve been really great to work with and we’ve accomplished a lot.”

His group stressed the importance of the “one community” mission.

“It’s important for Iowa State and Veishea to be in the good eyes of the city of Ames,” said Bryce Tingwald, senior in agricultural systems technology.

Operation Playground, in its third incarnation this year, saw the placement of brand-new playground equipment in Franklin Park on South Franklin Avenue. Rain slowed down the 32-person crew and prevented the immediate laying of cement and mulch, but it did little to squelch the workers’ spirits.

“It kind of downpoured on us around 9, 9:30, so we took a little break then,” said Matt Mead, 10,000 Hours executive director of business and junior in chemistry. “But we’ve been constantly digging holes, assembling stuff.”

Mead said he also appreciated the extra benefit of getting hours for the 10,000 Hours Show, as well as serving the community.

“I think it’s really important to bridge that gap between university and community, since they both give so much to each other. Also, it’s fun to play in the mud,” he said.

Still, the mud and rain turned some people toward different projects. Nicole Bell, junior in construction engineering, and Lindsay Knutson, junior in journalism and mass communication, are both members of the Student Alumni Leadership Council’s ambassador committee. Their group signed up to work on a playground but was reassigned to paint children’s rooms at Youth and Shelter Services, 712 Burnett Ave.

“I thought it would be good to get the organization involved with the community,” Bell said. “We chose the playground because, well, everybody likes playgrounds.”

Bell, Knutson and the rest of their group were covered in paint, rather than mud, by midday.

“We thought we could get to play around there [at the playground],” Knutson said. “But we’re still having fun with the paint.”

Among the casualties postponed by the rain was a rain garden project planned for the Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Ave.

“The ground was too wet for the city to come and do the initial grating, which shows the need for a rain garden, obviously,” Thompson said.

A rain garden is a planted plot of vegetation designed to absorb and reduce rainwater run-off in urban areas, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site.

“The purpose [of the rain garden] is to be an example for the community – to show them alternative methods of water management, instead of just letting rain hit the pavement,” Thompson said. “It’s a celebration of the movement of water and natural prairie grasses; that kind of thing.”

Thompson said the tentative date for the rescheduled rain garden project is April 14.

“It will be a nice focal point for downtown, especially since it will be adjacent to the YSS mural,” Thompson said.

The mural, on the east lot of Youth and Shelter Services, 420 Kellogg Ave., was another project moved to a later date because of the rain.

The mural will display the faces of adults and children among Ames landmarks such as the Campanile and the fountain outside YSS.

“It’s a landscape painting,” Thompson said. “It’s really beautiful.”

The mural painting is also tentatively rescheduled for April 14.

Thompson was excited about the future of the Veishea Service Day event.

“Hopefully next year it’s twice as big and it doesn’t rain,” she said.

Keenan had similar sentiments about the program.

“It’s something that we want to grow,” she said. “It’s something that we want to become a Veishea tradition.”