Sarah Eames: On the Bright Side: Delhi seeks volunteers for bicentennial projects

Sarah Eames, The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
·2 min read

Apr. 10—The Village of Delhi Bicentennial Committee is seeking volunteers and service project proposals for its upcoming Community Service Day, part of the continuing celebration of the 200th anniversary of the village's founding.

"It's all collaborative," said Barb Jones, chair of the bicentennial committee. "It's about cleaning up and sprucing up, but it's also about building community."

Together with the Village Beautification Committee, SUNY Delhi and Delaware Academy, the bicentennial committee is hosting Community Service Day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 24, with the intent of logging at least 200 collective hours of community service.

Groups of socially-distanced volunteers will disburse throughout the community to wash windows of Main Street businesses, paint picnic tables at the pool, pick up trash at parks and help other local organizations with all manners of "sprucing up and cleaning up," Jones said.

"The whole spirit is the bicentennial and showing the village some love," Jones said.

Other projects include working with the Catskill Mountain Club to help with yearly maintenance of the Bulldog Trails at Delaware Academy and partnering in various service activities with Delhi Alliance Church and the United Ministry of Delhi.

Volunteers are asked to check in at the Courthouse Square from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Saturday, April 24. Most projects are expected to be completed by 1 p.m.

All volunteers will receive a free bicentennial T-shirt.

To sign up as an individual or group or to sponsor or suggest a project, email Barbara Jones at jonesbe@delhi.edu and put "Service Day" in the subject line.

Other upcoming bicentennial activities include the opening of Delaware Academy's 1939 time capsule at 1 pm. Saturday, May 8 at the Courthouse Square, a 10 a.m. May 15 Bramley Mountain hike co-sponsored by the Catskill Mountain Club, and a "Stroll Back Through Time: A Tour of Historical Architecture" presentation with SUNY Delhi professor Lisa Tessier at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 22, co-sponsored by the Delhi Historical Society.

Sarah Eames, staff writer, can be reached at seames@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213. Follow her @DS_SarahE on Twitter.