Generations of volunteering

As the relatively new program director of Action in Community Through Service's Turning Points Program, one thing that impresses and inspires me is the number of community members who graciously bestow their time, talent and other gifts upon ACTS for the benefit of the people we serve.

The story I have to tell is about three generations of benefactors in one family who have done all of those things.

When Nick Manchester, a 14-year-old honor student from Mountain View High School in Stafford County, called our executive director, Frances Harris, about the possibility of completing his Eagle Scout project at ACTS, she was surprised to hear he was from a Scout troop in North Stafford, a distance from the ACTS project he was considering. However, Nick was following a family tradition.

Thirty years ago, when his father, Steve, was 14 and living in Dale City, he completed his own Eagle Scout project at ACTS. And what a project it was!

Steve Manchester collected an entire tractor-trailer load of food for the ACTS Food Pantry. When I met him for the first time, he told me that the completion of his Eagle Scout project at ACTS was a life-changing event for him and he wanted his son to have an equally challenging and meaningful experience. So he suggested to Nick that he give ACTS a call.

As luck would have it, the Turning Points program had a project just waiting for the right person. Our West Safe House playground set was unsafe and we could no longer allow children to play on it.

It was located in the perfect play setting where the mothers could gather and talk while their children played. We also had a newly donated set that needed to be put together, but in the same place as the old one. This would mean a major demolition project, cleaning the area and constructing the new set, which was in many pieces.

It was a major overhaul of the play area to create a safe and secure play area. We enthusiastically welcomed the opportunity to work with Nick Manchester's Boy Scout Troop 1889 on the rehabilitation of the West Safe House playground.

Nick has already created a plan that exceeds our expectations and has coordinated a work team that includes Boy Scouts from Spotsylvania and Prince William counties. Special members of his team include another generation of ACTS Manchester volunteers. Nick's paternal grandmother, Faye Manchester, originally from Australia, has been an active volunteer for the ACTS Food Pantry for about eight years. She is the quality control expert and master organizer of the pantry. Faye Manchester is so proud and excited about her grandson's project at the West Safe House that she has donated some money toward the project. As an added bonus, she and her husband, Harry Manchester Jr., have decided to get their shovels out and help with the labor as well.

This will truly be a family project for the Manchesters

How fortunate we are to have had three generations of the Manchester family donate their time and energy to ACTS programs. Our hats are off to them!

Dotty Larson is the Turning Points director for ACTS.