Volunteer to spruce up an Idaho yard for someone who can’t during annual Rake-Up Nampa

The year is flying by. We blinked and now some of the trees are already saturated with warm golds, rich ambers and fiery reds. And in another blink, all of that autumn color will be covering the ground.

Then comes the chore of raking. And depending on the size of your yard, it can be straight-up daunting.

The work itself is tedious regardless — piling up the leaves, bending down to grab an armful, stuffing into tall paper sacks. And then rinse and repeat until your lower back screams for ibuprofen.

It could be completed as a one-person job, but it’s much smarter to tackle it as a team.

And teams are what are needed for the annual Rake-Up Nampa event, a community effort that helps clean up the yards of seniors and others who are unable to take care of their lawns themselves.

The number of applicants applying to have their lawns raked continues to grow each year, which means more volunteers are needed, organizers say.

COVID-19 hasn’t affected the process too much, but to keep both parties safe (seniors and volunteers), appointments for supply pickups will be scheduled individually and teams will coordinate with homeowners to set up a time between Nov. 6 and Nov. 16 to have the work done.

To form a volunteer team, fill out the application available at cityofnampa.us/161/Rake-Up-Nampa. The deadline to apply is Nov. 3.

For those interested in applying for assistance to have their yard cleaned up, residents must:

▪ be at least 60 years of age or disabled (no age limitation, but all other criteria apply);

▪ be unable to rake their own property;

▪ live within Nampa city limits.

Fill out an application at cityofnampa.us/161/Rake-Up-Nampa by Oct. 16 to have your yard taken care of.

For questions or more information, call 208-468-5430 or email treasurem@cityofnampa.us.