This year’s United Way Day of Caring in Porter County brought together over 900 volunteers for a whole day of donating their time and efforts into the community. Centier Bank in Valparaiso, who has participated in the event for over 5 years, chose to give back to the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso.
“We couldn’t be more appreciative and grateful, because as you can see, we are always in motion and there’s always stuff to do.” said Stacy Ruiz, Front House Manager at the MOH.
This is the 2nd year the Memorial Opera House has participated as a site for the United Way Day of Caring event. The MOH runs on volunteers on a daily basis including actors, back stage workers, users, and so much more.
The event is right up their alley and continues their ongoing mission, says Ruiz. “We spotlight the arts, history and the community. That’s our mission.”
Lisa Herma, Branch Manager of the Valparaiso Centier Bank chose the MOH to support a very beloved place in the community. “The last couple of years we’ve worked outside at an organization, so I just saw this project and thought, you know, we all love the Memorial Opera House, it’s downtown Valpo. I just thought it would be a great place for us to help out and give our support.”
The MOH has been serving the community for over 100 years and it’s the volunteers in the community that keep it going strong. People are more than welcome to volunteer their time at the MOH in anyway they can. The MOH is always looking for actors, photographers, backstage help, administrative work, data base help and even just cleaning, like Centier Bank did this Friday.
Centier Bank employees dusted the chairs and shampooed the carpets in the front house, they cleaned up the grounds outside, painted the downstairs, and organized and cleaned upstairs.
Scot MacDonald, the MOH Business Director said it’s very important for the MOH to build a bridge in the community and work with one another like today.
“I think it’s fantastic that they chose us. It’s important to me that we’re able to share our resources in the community and as businesses and business owners, all of that, to be able to work with one another and really build that bridge.” said MacDonald.
The Memorial Opera House would like to thank its supporters for all they do, including Strack and Van Til who donated lunch to the volunteers for the day, Phillips Ace Hardware who donated the carpet shampooers and Family Express who consistently donates bottled water to the MOH year round.