Hundreds of Lakewood residents are set to volunteer and knock out various projects throughout the city during the third-annual Love Lakewood Day.

The event, led by nonprofit coalition Serve Spot Lakewood, will take place at more than 10 locations throughout the city between 9 a.m. and noon on Sept. 20, including Jeffco Public Schools, Southwest Community Church and Jeffco Eats. 

The projects will include painting parts of schools, cleaning up areas and other small-scale projects that are “put on the backburner” because the locations don’t have enough resources to do the projects otherwise, according to Miriam Wilch, director of Serve Spot Lakewood.

“The power of community and what we can get done together makes such a big difference,” she said. 

For example, volunteers helped organize a library at Rose Stein Elementary last year, placing the library into genres, as opposed to alphabetical order.

“The librarian said it would have taken her all year,” Wilch said. “It took a few volunteers a few hours on a Saturday. It really can transform a space.”

Other past examples include handwriting notes for seniors in nursing homes, meal prep for meal distribution and gardening. The projects are either presented to Serve Spot Lakewood or the organization reaches out to community members for potential ideas.

The event has become the main initiative of Serve Spot Lakewood — an amalgamation of the Coalition to End Hunger in Lakewood, the Lakewood Faith Coalition and the Lakewood Service Organization Coalition.

The event pushes the purpose of the coalition: increase volunteerism and better serve the community.

“We decided that a city-wide volunteer day would make sense as a way to give people a push to take action in their community. It would give them the opportunity to do that with low barriers and possibly inspire them to do that beyond the one day,” Wilch said.

The event has grown throughout its three years, with already around 300 volunteers signing up for work, Wilch said.

“Just a few hundred people for three hours on a Saturday can make such a difference in our community,” she said. “It’s important to show your love for Lakewood and give back to a place that deserves a little love.”

The number of projects has also increased, with about nine schools reaching out to participate this year. 

Volunteers can sign up at Serve Spot Lakewood’s website at ServeSpotLakewood.com.