Chapin, SC (Paul Kirby) – Groups and individuals from across the Chapin area turned out Saturday for the town’s annual Community Day of Service. Collectively, the teams planted flowers, raked leaves, straightened out historic buildings, picked up trash along the road, and performed other needed tasks. When they were finished, the town shone like a new penny and although the participants were tired, they were fulfilled knowing they had made a huge difference in their area through service.
The morning kicked off with a large breakfast that was served at the town hall. Although the Town of Chapin bought the food, the members of the local American Legion Post #193 prepared it. The great meal fortified the workers for the long morning of work ahead.
At the Greater Chapin area Chamber of Commerce office, the tasks were enough so that the job was split in half. The women of the Chapin Garden Club and their spouses took one half of the yard, and the young ladies of the Chapin Junior Women’s Club took the opposite. The two groups mulched beds, trim trees and hedges, and planted new flowers and shrubs. By the time the walks had been swept and the tools were being put away, the building and grounds were gorgeous. Although the range of age of people who participated varied widely, all worked just as hard to get the work done.
On Old Lexington Avenue, several other groups swarmed like ants around the old Chapin Town Hall and the small brick fire station that is now just storage for the town. Those workers included J.J. Casey, the founder of the area’s Fancy Hat Ladies club. She was joined by members Kay Hollis and her husband John, Pat Wilson, Nancy, Cynthia, and Alice Scollon. Kelley Roberts was there from Chapin High School and was accompanied by her school-aged children Cooper and Kaitlyn. John “J.T.” Thomason was also there from the Chapin Historical Association. These groups also planted, raked, mulched, trimmed and swept. Later, they had a short presentation on the history of the buildings they were working on.
All up and down Chapin Road, several groups from Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church donned orange safety vests to pick up litter. Sad to say, the group filled up several pickup trucks with orange bags of all types of trash discarded by careless people who either didn’t tarp their loads while enroute to the county’s convenience station to discard their garbage, or simply threw out trash while riding in their cars. The men said they were proud of their efforts Saturday but wished that people would think more about their community when they discarded these things that had such a negative impact on the appearance of their town.
At the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department Substation, another group from the Chapin Garden Club and the girls of Girl Scout Troop 760 elevated the appearance of that facility by beautifying its grounds. Here again, the workers who attended ranged from ladies with gray hair to girls who were middle school age and teens. No one sat idle here either, all were working to do something. One of the scout’s leaders said that it was important for the girls to learn that serving one’s community is part of being a good citizen.
There were other groups who participated Saturday across the town. All made a big difference in what the town looked like. More importantly, they built pride among themselves after a job well done.
