Prepare Affair gets homes in the Tri-State area ready for winter

People Working Cooperatively’s largest volunteer event, the Prepare Affair, brings together 3,000 volunteers from across the Tri-State to get PWC clients’ homes ready for winter.

The Prepare Affair began in 1987 to serve the disabled and elderly clients of PWC. It started out small, with about 30 homes and 70 volunteers. It has grown to about 1,000 houses and 3,000 volunteers per year. PWC hopes to set a record this year and help 1,200 homeowners, says Jock Pitts, president of PWC.

During the Prepare Affair, volunteers do everything from cleaning gutters and raking leaves to installing storm windows and putting new batteries in smoke detectors.

The tasks might seem small, but they make a big difference to the homeowners. After the Prepare Affair, they have renewed pride in their homes and neighborhood morale increases, says Pitts.

“The volunteers are great,” he says. “Many church and neighborhood groups volunteer, and they’re usually sent to the same houses year after year. Eventually, those groups ‘adopt’ homeowners and take care of them throughout the year.”

The 25th Annual Prepare Affair is Saturday, Nov. 10, and there’s still plenty of time to sign up to volunteer. Anyone can volunteer; there is a $10 donation per individual and a $20 donation per family to cover Prepare Affair expenses.

PWC’s Prepare Affair is sponsored by the City of Cincinnati, Duke Energy, Hubert, Toyota, Citi, Time Warner Cable, Viox Services, Church of the Redeemer, Deltec, Earlham College, ESTAnalytical, First Bank Richmond, Scripps Howard Foundation and UBS.

Do Good:
• Sign up to volunteer for the Prepare Affair.
• Call 513-351-7921 to find out what else you can do to help.
• Get friendly with PWC on Facebook.

By Caitlin Koenig
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