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BERRIEN COUNTY — On Thursday, Nov. 14, teams from all over Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren county took their rakes, gloves, and rain gear to yards throughout the area to help seniors in need of yard maintenance.

The 14th annual Rake a Difference Event served 336 seniors around the three county community, with 134 teams involved in the event, encompassing a total of 1,319 volunteers that lent their time and talents to those in need.

“Thursday’s weather was definitely not the prettiest, but our teams stepped up and did what they could to help seniors across the area with a smile!” stated United Way of Southwest Michigan’s Debbie Ramirez. “Some teams were so excited to do the work, they even called in asking for more houses and more supplies before the day was over. That’s the kind of caring community we live in, and it’s so heartwarming to witness. I know our seniors appreciated it as well.”

Ramirez and her United Way Rake a Difference organizing team spent most of last week calling and organizing volunteer work plans, assembling supplies for pickup by teams, and taking last minute change requests. Work on the Rake a Difference event starts early in each year, but the “zero hour” is certainly the same week of the event when everything comes together to make sure seniors are served and volunteers are connected.

“The need grows every year. In fact, we still have 28 seniors on a waitlist that needed to be served this year,” Ramirez says. “We hope in 2025 we have even more great volunteers to meet the need so these seniors can be served.”

A video encapsulating the fun of the day was recently released on the United Way of Southwest Michigan social media channels profiling teams from across the area enjoying their work. A contest for the best video and photo from the teams also has voting open through the rest of Monday, November 18 at uwsm.org/rad-contest.

“On to next year!” Ramirez stated. “Time to begin the planning!”