“Almost every couple blocks, you can find something we’ve been involved in over the last 18 years,” said Coordinator Jan Wilson.

This year, featured improvements in Fort Dodge include areas around the Freedom Rock, Crossroads Mall, along Fifth Avenue South, UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center and virtually every public and parochial school in town.

“We need to make things better for our community, so we’re always looking for a variety of things,” Wilson said.

And while some service organizations have witnessed a decline in volunteerism, PICA participation has remained constant, with a few new volunteers in 2019. Since the organization’s formation 19 years ago, PICA volunteers have logged more than 45,000 hours of community service.

-Submitted photo
PICA volunteers installed the lighting that now illuminates the Freedom Rock in Fort Dodge at night.

“It’s not at all difficult,” to get the help PICA needs to carry out its mission, Wilson said, to the credit of generosity in Fort Dodge.

The group continues to meet twice each week from April to November, putting in about two hours each day with an average attendance of 20 to 25 volunteers, in conjunction with other service organizations.

“It’s nice when we get (other organizations) to help us to enhance the appearance in the community,” Wilson said, thanking them.

In the last year, PICA has been busy.

At Freedom Rock, the volunteers installed lighting to make the tribute to veterans visible at night, an item that has been on Wilson’s bucket list for a while.

-Submitted photo
PICA volunteers groomed the heart on the hillside on the northeast corner of UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center’s property.

“It’s been bothering me for years,” he said. “We put up solar lights on the American flag, but they weren’t functioning well.”

With electrical lights installed, Freedom Rock and the nearby Purple Heart, which volunteers also stained, shine bright. Flowers and stone landscaping around the Purple Heart gave the memorial additional life with a more natural appearance, too.

“Freedom Rock is what volunteers enjoyed the most,” the coordinator said.

If you enjoyed the green spaces around downtown and schools, you can thank PICA.

“We covered the entire community,” Wilson said, including trash clean-up around the mall to make it more presentable.

On the northeast corner of UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center property, PICA volunteers cleared several full dump trucks of brush and vegetation, grooming the heart on the hillside by the hospital and gardening its front entrance area.

“We’ve done pretty much the whole front of the hospital in the last couple of years,” Wilson said, noting that UnityPoint wanted them to come back soon. “That was a huge project.”

With the amount of work PICA does, it’s no wonder why they’re asked back. The organizer said that volunteers see the work is worth it when the final results come together, spurring more enthusiasm for helping the community look its best.

“Whatever you do, take pride in what you’re doing by coming together and making a difference for your community,” Wilson said.

As the volunteer group of mostly retirees and teachers on summer break continues to age, PICA hopes for more volunteers.

“The more the merrier,” said Wilson.