By Renee Worthing
Staff Writer
Despite the rain, more than 1,000 volunteers fanned out across York County during the June 4 United Way 13th annual Day of Caring.
Day of Caring Coordinator Mimi Mills said York County first hosted the event in 1996 with 202 volunteers working on 25 projects.
This year, 1,025 volunteers from more than 65 schools and businesses joined 45 nonprofit agencies throughout York County.
United Way President and CEO Kathryn Davis said the turnout was “better than Portland.”
 “I’m really jazzed,” Davis said.
She said she was impressed so many people volunteered to build, paint, pull weeds, plant, clean and renovate throughout York County.
“People are so stressed, but they are showing their generosity with volunteering,” she said.
At the York County Food Rescue warehouse on Jagger Mill Road in Sanford, about a dozen volunteers from Shaw’s Warehouse in Wells cleaned offices, assembled shelves and performed carpentry work.
Standing on a ladder, George Lee replaced the framing of a doorway, raising it about six inches to allow the forklift easier access while Rob Griffin, Doug Dodge, David Bissonnette and Eric Lofgren bolted shelf braces to the concrete floor and assembled the shelving units donated by Shaw’s Supermarket.
A group of women moved desks and furniture in the office space and scrubbed the walls.
York County Food Rescue Director Jodi Bissonnette said the building once housed Wayside Food Rescue Program, but when the program was moved, the warehouse was stripped.
Bissonnette said when the new food rescue program began operating out of the space in January, it was a shell of a building so she signed up York County Food Rescue for the United Way Day of Caring.
She said all of the materials for the project was donated, including paint, shelves, racks and the forklift used to move pallets of food.
“Shaw’s adopted the food distribution center,” Davis said.
At Roberts Park, volunteers from Hannaford Bros., and, Mapes, Inc., pulled bamboo out of the ground by the roots, a task Sanford Parks and Recreation Director Marcel Blouin said was completed last year by AmeriCorps volunteers.
Sanford resident Tammy Liston pulled up the invasive non-native plant and tossed it aside, while next to her Lori McCleary tugged up another handful of the plant.
McCleary, of Portsmouth, N.H. said she has volunteered for the past eight or nine years, although this was her first year volunteering in Sanford.
“I like giving back to the community and working as a team,” she said.
Across the street at Goodall Park, students from Sanford’s alternative high school and employees of Mapes, Inc. swept the stadium and washed stadium seats in preparation for the Sanford Mainers June 5 opening day.
 Mark Camire, 17, washed down stadium seats, careful not to miss a spot. He said his first experience of volunteering was a “good time.”
At the YMCA, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employees spruced up the landscaping. Michael and Georgette Fernald of Sanford shoveled mulch into a wheelbarrow and spread it around the bushes.
Michael Fernald said he volunteered with some encouragement from his wife who has volunteered for four years.
“I’ll be here every year now,” he said. “I’m meeting new friends, seeing old ones and doing something positive for the community. It’s a good cause.”
Dianne Buttrick of Berwick filled another wheelbarrow with mulch and wheeled it up the hill.
“I enjoy physical work,” she said.
She said during her four years of participating in Day of Caring, one of the most rewarding jobs was building a playground in Portland.
“The little kids were looking out the window,” she said. “They were so excited watching us build a playground from the ground up.”
The New School in Kennebunk was not only a beneficiary of the day, but a participant as well. Administrative Assistant Janet Perry said volunteers from York County Community College were working on greenhouses and preparing the way for a new driveway.
She said about 28 of The New School students spent the day out of the classroom lending a hand at Truslow Adult Day Care Center in Saco where they painted a mural. Other students were building a new stall at Ever After Mustang Ranch in Biddeford and another group built bike racks at the Community Bicycle Center in Biddeford.
 At Equest Therapeutic Riding Center in Lyman, owner Sarah Armentrout said about seven volunteers helped clear a quarter-mile trail through the woods. They cut trees, cleared brush, raked and put wood chips down.
 The trail will provide a “sensory rich experience” with simple activities along the way for riders with physical, cognitive or emotional disabilities.
She said the project probably would not be completed in one day, but “they gave us a jump start.” Armentrout said Equest has benefited from Day of Caring for more than five years.