Volunteers can-struct for a cause

Through the Home Builders Care program, the Mat-Su Home Builders' Association has performed many community service projects. In late January, one of those projects involved plenty of "canstruction."

At the Cottonwood Creek Mall, the association hosted a "Can-struction," in which local businesses constructed things with food items, which were then donated to food banks. The event was sponsored by McKinley Title and Trust.

Donated canned and boxed food items were gathered by participants and structures were built. More than $5,000 worth of food was donated by people for the projects.

Participants included Rotaract, Wasilla Rotary, Wasilla Sunrise Rotary, McKinley Title and Trust, Best in the Land Realty, North Country Builders of Alaska and the Mat-Su Home Builders' Association.

Fred Meyer also made a large donation for the project. All the food raised was donated to the Wasilla Food Pantry and the Palmer Food Bank.

Other volunteer projects the association has done in the last few years include a complete remodel of a home for a young cancer patient's family, fund-raising for charity through a shed raffle and a remodel of the Blood Bank of Alaska, Mat-Su Chapter's offices in Wasilla.

Communities in the Mat-Su Valley benefit every day from the work of volunteers.

Mostly, the work performed and the volunteers themselves remain out of the spotlight. They are faceless people who give their time and their talent each day, without expecting or receiving much recognition.

We want to change that. Is there a volunteer your nonprofit agency simply could not live without? Does one person make a big difference in your life every day, all without asking for anything in return? If so, please let us know.

We want to shed light on the efforts many of these unassuming people give every day to charities, nonprofit agencies, local organizations or even their neighbors.

In future issues of the Frontiersman, we will highlight some of these people and the work they perform that makes the Mat-Su Valley a great place to live.

To nominate a person to be highlighted, please e-mail the person's name, a contact number for them and for yourself, and a brief description of what makes the work they do important.

Please e-mail volunteer submissions to editor@alaska.net, or mail them to the Frontiersman, 5751 E. Mayflower Ct., Wasilla, AK, 99654.