Students step in, help Kelly with her scooter (6 photos)

The Sault’s Kelly Williamson smiled warmly on a sunny Saturday morning as a crew of Sault College skilled trades students visited her home to take care of some necessary, pre-winter outdoor chores.

Saturday marked the annual Trades Day of Caring, organized by Sault College and the United Way of Sault Ste. Marie and District.

“I’m very overwhelmed because I expected only a couple of students to come in and rake up the leaves, and it ended up that I had chores done that there’s no physical way I would have been able to manage,” said Williamson, who suffers from a condition that severely limits her mobility.

“It’s very appreciated that the Sault College students donate their time,” said Williamson, who also receives a great deal of help from Logan, her Golden Retriever service dog.

Chores performed by Sault College students Saturday included carrying Williamson’s scooter and locking it in storage for the winter.

“This alleviates a great deal of stress for someone like myself who liked accomplishing everything on my own,” Williamson told reporters.

“You have to shut your eyes to a lot of the things you can no longer do and often you are able to hire someone and pay an hourly rate, but there are few people willing to come in and do a couple of hours of work, to lift a heavy load.”

Williamson said she was too late to avail herself of last year’s Trades Day of Caring, and was therefore pleased the United Way kept her on the list and contacted her this year.

15 Sault College students were scheduled to help out at 21 houses for this year’s Trades Day of Caring.

Students volunteer their time and receive letters of commendation from Sault College and the United Way.

Chores they perform usually include raking leaves, pulling up weeds, winterizing doors and windows as well as putting outdoor furniture and hoses away before the snow falls. 

The students are enrolled in Sault College’s civil engineering and construction carpentry techniques programs.

A Sault College social service worker student also went to each house on the list Saturday to work alongside a United Way staff member to confer with homeowners about work that needed to be done.

“We’ve already done one house already this morning, to winterize the windows, and we’ve got another five houses to rake leaves..it’s really good, it’s nice to talk to people,” said Sault College student Ryley Lipps.

“It’s good experience and you learn to help the community,” said fellow student Ben Viktorian.

“I instill it into my students that we have to give back…it’s a good feeling when you see these homeowners smiling and say thank you, we can do in five minutes what might take them an hour or two or all day because of disabilities or age,” said Sam Spadafora, Sault College construction carpentry techniques instructor.