Three Sweet Briar teams made a wide-spread difference in the community on May 24, participating in the 13th annual United Way Day of Caring. Nineteen staff and faculty represented the College in its seventh consecutive year, doing good deeds in the cities of Amherst, Lynchburg and Madison Heights.

Team captain Karen Summers (president’s office) and her group – consisting of Catherine Bost and Suzanne Ramsey (college relations) and Katia Suntseva (development) – pruned bushes, pulled and sprayed weeks, and planted flowers at the United Way of Central Virginia headquarters in Lynchburg.

Thanks to last-minute assistance from Professor John Brown (English department) a final touch of mulch was added to the newly restored flower bed. “I am so proud of Sweet Briar for doing this for seven years straight," Summers said. "We have ‘regulars’ now that do this each and every year. It’s nice that the College supports this type of community service.”

Across town in Amherst, Tiffany Cummings’ team cleaned three classrooms from top to bottom at the Amherst Presbyterian Nursery School. The team even moved to the outside and cleaned the outdoor toys.

The school is ready to start the next year with ease because of the good teamwork of Shelbie Filson (dean’s office), Tony Hudson (Junior Year in Spain) and Anita Muglia, Nancy Strosnider and Cyndi Fein (development). “The teachers were very appreciative of our efforts,” Cummings said. “I was particularly impressed with the way our group dug in and got right to work.”

Sweet Briar’s biggest team was led by Cindy Ponton (purchasing) and included employees from five different campus offices. They divided into three groups and worked with the Central Virginia Area on Aging, becoming “Merry Maids” for the morning.

The teams performed housekeeping duties for elderly women in the Madison Heights area. Armed with mops, brooms, vacuum cleaners and an assortment of cleaning supplies, they performed cleaning services for elderly clients who are unable to perform such tasks by themselves.

Each team also provided a small gift of appreciation to their client. “After a morning of cleaning and wonderful conversation with three very interesting women, we returned to work very satisfied in what we had accomplished that morning,” Ponton said.

Ponton's teammates consisted of Wanda Spradley (financial aid), Babs Rentz and Sarah Ogden (registrar), Cindy Sale and Becky Heishman (business), Blaise Whittle (physical education) Alison Crehore (riding center).

Day of Caring volunteers (from left) Katia Suntseva, Karen Summers, Catherine Bost and Suzanne Ramsey take a break from gardening at the United Way of Central Virginia headquarters in Lynchburg.