A volunteer group in Jacksonville is looking for lawn care, carpentry, and working tools, as well as individuals or groups in the community to offer additional volunteer assistance.
The Northeast End Development group, more commonly known in the community by the acronym NEED, is a local restoration society working to find a semblance of the beauty that many of the NEED members remember from days past in the Jacksonville northeast end.
Jean Wardell is one of the central organizers of the group. Wardell describes some of the history of Northeast End Development and the ultimate purpose of the volunteers’ work.
“Jim Daniels and Shane Pierson started the NEED program and neighbors have gathered in successive years to offer some beautification to the northeast end. We work on lawns, keep weeds under control, and handle pertinent issues such as trash and unwanted furniture in yards.”
Wardell says that tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. NEED will meet to plan out a whole workday in the parking lot of the former Jefferson School near the intersection of Clay and Independence.
“We’re going to designate some of the areas for certain folks, but what we need is the equipment others can provide to assist our efforts. We have no adequate equipment to complete our efforts, and therein lies our inherent problem. We have one little riding mower, some clippers, and a Weed Eater.”
Wardell describes the current volunteer zone and the group’s lack of usable equipment.
Wardell also explains that this project is dear to memories of her childhood in town.
“I was raised there. I just want to help get things cleaned up back to the way it looked.”
Jean Wardell offers two contact methods: you can call her at 217.291.4324, or you can email ideas, new volunteer names, and pictures of usable equipment to jwardell@frontier.com