Volunteers prepare to ‘Love Fallon’

In a few days, residents will be able to spend Saturday sprucing up the city as part of the inaugural Love Fallon.

Hosted and sponsored by the city of Fallon, Love Fallon kicks off at the Oats Park Pavilion at 8 a.m. with a pancake breakfast sponsored by New Millennium and Sage Hill Dairy. Mayor Ken Tedford will deliver remarks at 8:30 a.m.

During the day volunteers will give back to their community by cleaning and beautifying areas such as parks, washing vehicles for first responders, cleaning the city mural and completing many other projects. Volunteers are also needed to assist with the pancake breakfast by preparing, serving and cleaning up.

According to Ashley Laca, Love Fallon city coordinator, the vision of the day is to love the city so it may thrive. She added the local community is invited to participate in the inaugural Love Fallon volunteering event at the pavilion.

Laca said volunteers arriving at the Centennial Stage should look for a large sign with their project name and also a person wearing a red vest. She said the person in the red vest will be the project leader who will have details regarding the project.

At about 8:45 a.m., Laca said volunteers will find their project leader and either head out into the community or stay at Oats Park for their project. Once the project is complete, volunteers are free to return to the park to socialize or head home.

Laca said the mission is to help the community lead a city-wide volunteer day by facilitating initiatives and becoming city-wide conveners while networking and collaborating with fellow city leaders.

“We believe every town needs something that brings its community members together,” Laca said. “This event is a way for anyone and everyone to come together, creating a space where all can gather to support each other and our beloved city. We want to help people in need and make our town a better place.”

Laca added Love Fallon allows the community to recognize outstanding individuals and organizations. She strongly believes an event such as this brings people from all walks of life to enhance Fallon’s beauty and functionality.

Sponsors include: Northern Nevada Ag Consulting, Churchill County Parks & Recreation, Epworth United Methodist Church, Fallon Autism Awareness, Fallon Nevada Stakes (The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints), JustServe.org, Oasis Community Church, Pizza Barn, Depot Casino Diner, Victory Baptist Church, Wendy Helene Photography, Technix Sound and Lighting, New Millennium and Sage Hill Dairy.

Love Fallon is part of the national nonprofit organization Love Our Cities. Over 272,000 volunteers have donated 1.2 million hours nationwide since the program began in 2007.

“Love Our Cities began out of the success of Love Modesto,” the group states on its website. “Love Modesto (California) started in 2007 at Big Valley Grace Community Church with two questions: Why is our city on lists of the ‘worst cities in America’ and if our church were to suddenly disappear from the Modesto area, would anyone even care or notice?”

The group said it didn’t know the answers, but they knew they were called to love Modesto, a city of over 200,000 people located in the San Joaquin Valley, 68 miles south of Sacramento.

The current list of Fallon projects includes writing affirmation cards for community members, washing cars for first responders, making flower pens for local teachers, cleaning up the landscape of a public school, painting a mural on the Oasis ABA building and painting rocks for a rock garden at a local church. Volunteers are also needed to prepare, serve and clean up at the pancake breakfast that starts off the day of service.

“This event is a way for anyone and everyone to come together, creating a space where all can gather to support each other and our beloved city,” Laca said. “We want to help people in need and make our town a better place. Love Fallon is an opportunity to shine a light on the outstanding individuals and organizations making a positive impact in our community.”

For information or to pre-register for individual service projects, visit lovefallon.org.