While the Washita-Custer County Treatment Court Team was virtually visiting a Mentor Court Program from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, September 30th, program participants met at Foss State Park and cleaned up litter. Thirteen participants in phases I, II, and III cleaned up 30 bags of garbage from several lake areas. This clean up was graciously organized and supervised by Park Manager Barry Hardaway, who has been a community partner in these service projects for several years.
This clean up project allowed participants opportunity to provide a much needed service in September to honor National Recovery Month.
Why do program participants do volunteer work? Volunteer work provides an opportunity for Washita-Custer County Treatment Court participants to give back to their communities. Washita and Custer Counties both benefit from the hard work our participants provide on a weekly basis. Participants in phases I, II, III and IV each provide four hours of volunteer work a week within their communities. That means local nonprofits, governments, community organizations, churches, and outreach groups benefit from the help our participants provide on a weekly basis. The estimated value of the work done at $10 an hour would be $40/week, $160/ month, or $2,080 worth of volunteer service a year per participant. When multiplied by the average number of participants we maintain, we see that our participants volunteer $93,600 of volunteered services a year! That is work done on a voluntary basis by people who want to make their communities a better place, right here in Western Oklahoma.
Submitted by Sarah Mears-Ivy, Washita-Custer County Treatment Court Program Coordinator