Little Brother's Friends of the Elderly has helped 45 Seniors this fall.
By Jeni Jewell
Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 7:36 p.m.
Read more: Local, Little Brother's Friends of the Elderly, Hancock, Michigan, Phi Kauppa Tau
SCHOOLCRAFT TOWNSHIP -- It was a cold, wet, dirty job on Saturday. But the members of the Phi Kauppa Tau fraternity in Hancock, along with other student volunteers, still made significant progress cutting, splitting and stacking eight cords of wood at a house in Schoolcraft Township.
"We usually do this once a year, sometimes twice a year," said Phi Kauppa Tau member, Drew Fojtik. "But this is the first time we've actually come to someone's house to do it. I feel like it's a lot more personal to get involved in the community, you know, getting to know them on a one-on-one basis."
The homeowner, Larry Blaszczyk, was glad to see the Michigan Tech students who volunteered today with Little Brother's Friends of the Elderly.
Blaszczyk said cutting all the wood is a job he couldn't do alone.
"I have bad circulation in my legs," said Blaszczyk, "so I can't walk around or stand too much. It means my survival. I couldn't afford to heat my place with gas. I've got to have the wood."
Blaszczyk is one of 45 people that volunteers with Little Brother's have cut wood for this fall. They've delivered 80 pickup loads of wood.
"I'll tell you, they're a godsend to this area," Blaszczyk said. "There should be more of these around the United States."
Elsewhere in the Copper Country, people split 120 cords of wood that was donated by Camp Kitwen when it closed in July of this year.
Blaszczyk said the willing hands of these college students means he won't have to worry about how he'll heat his home for the winter.
