Indy Do Day Aims To Engage

INDIANAPOLIS -- The third annual Indy Do Day is underway.  The community service event is actually three days of charitable projects aimed at making all Indianapolis communities great.

Indy Do Day provides a framework for people who want to make a difference in their neighborhoods.  The idea piggybacks on Lilly’s Global Day of Service, an event that’s been held since 2008.

Things got started Thursday morning as hundreds of volunteers mobilized at the state fairgrounds, says Do Day co-chair Ramona Adams.

"This is kind of base camp for a major Indy Do Day project from the American Red Cross and they have a goal of installing 800 smoke detectors in homes that have none," Adams said.

Over 60 opportunities are planned so far this year.  Projects can be big or small, organized or not and include plantings, mural painting, community cleanups or donating food.   Adams says the idea is to make it easy to engage.

"One of the great things about it being organic and grassroots is there’s so many things going on that we might not even yet know about," Adams said. 

The Rotary Club of Indianapolis took over leadership of Indy Do Day last year when at least 18,000 people helped out more than 300 organizations.  This year the group has a goal of involving 50,00 people.  

The event runs through Saturday, October 3 and a list of planned projects can be found online at IndyDoDay.org.