1,400 'Christmas in April' Volunteers Put in a Long Day Saturday

Workers give this house in St. Inigoes a good scrubbing and window treatment — The Bay Net pictures and videos by Sean Rice see slideshow and more videos below.

More than 1,400 volunteers gathered at 23 homes around St. Mary’s County on this sunny Saturday to provide donations of sweat to needy homeowners.

The weather couldn’t have gotten any better for the 16th annual Christmas in April event, and now 23 homes from Avenue to Mechanicsville to Scotland are gleaming from their extreme makeovers, including some with new roofs and windows, new heating units, repaired doors and siding.

Part of a national organization, the Christmas in April club in St. Mary’s County has helped renovate near 500 homes in its 16 years, with the help of more than 26,500 volunteers and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donated cash and materials.

Thanks to donators, the local chapter had a $150,000 budget to work with this year, organizer Mary Ann Chasen told The Bay Net.

The work performed on each home varies on need, but all received a general spruce up in addition to specific needs such as heating, roofing and flooring. All homes were finished off with fresh planted flowers.

Christmas in April organizers work all year preparing for the big building day, starting off with soliciting applications for the next building day.

“Our main goals are to make people warmer, dryer and safer,” Chasen said.

Planning for next year’s building day starts today.

See an earlier story from The Bay Net on Christmas in April, here