CAMARILLO : Volunteers Help United Way Clean Up on ‘Day of Caring’

Thirty volunteers from a Camarillo defense contractor firm cleaned, patched and painted Saturday as part of a community effort to put a new face on the Camarillo Boys & Girls Club.

Carolyn Kaplan-Leidner, a secretary at VSE Corp. in Camarillo, painted doors throughout the day at the Temple Avenue building, while her husband, Don Leidner, a professional contractor, lent expertise and equipment to help the volunteers fix what was broken and brighten what had faded.

“Our company does this every year and I wanted to help out,” Kaplan-Leidner said. “It’s a good feeling to know you are helping your community.”

The two Camarillo residents were among 600 who donated their time for the annual “Day of Caring” on Saturday to help United Way of Ventura County kick off a new year of fund raising and community activities.

While Leidner, who owns Maintenance Service Co. of Camarillo, and the rest of the VSE team worked in Camarillo, other groups of volunteers were dispatched to various nonprofit organization facilities around the county. The workers spent the day pulling weeds, landscaping, painting, cleaning, moving boxes, building shelves and picking up litter on beaches.

“The spirit of volunteerism was evident today as concerned citizens gave of themselves in each community to make a difference in the lives of many,” said Mary Levinson, executive vice president of the Bank of A. Levy and the 1992-93 United Way campaign chairwoman for the county.

Levinson announced the county’s $5.12-million fund-raising goal last week. United Way funds 62 health and human services agencies in Ventura County.