Each year, the South Whidbey community comes together for the annual South Whidbey Hearts & Hammers Workday—a single-day event focused on ensuring neighbors can remain safe and healthy within their homes. With more than twenty active worksites and hundreds of volunteers, this one day event serves as an inspiring reminder of the dedication islanders have to supporting others in need.

Started in 1994 in South Whidbey by philanthropist Lynn Willeford, the nonprofit began as a pilot program sponsored by the Langley United Methodist Church. Since then, the mission and vision of the organization has grown beyond South Whidbey, to include Hearts & Hammers organizations in Central and North Whidbey. Each nonprofit is run by its own, all-volunteer board of directors, who live and work within the communities they support. South Whidbey Hearts & Hammers works on projects south of Classic Road in Greenbank.

This year, South Whidbey’s Workday event will occur on May 6. Volunteers from Clinton, Langley, Freeland, Greenbank, and even from off-island come together to repair and rehabilitate the homes of neighbors who are physically or financially unable to do the work alone. Worksites will be a hub of activity, with laughter and conversation mixing with the sound of saws and hammering. Regardless of weather, volunteers will be onsite to ensure their neighbors have a safe place to call home.

This inspiring annual tradition needs your support. No experience is necessary to volunteer for Workday, just a desire to help those in the community who are in need. For anyone interested in participating, please visit www.heartsandhammers.com to learn more and to register as a volunteer.