There was a lot of hammering, painting, and landscaping going on in Polk County last week as more than 1,000 national volunteers from Honeywell and Rebuilding Together gave facelifts to needy areas in the community.

The events took place at seven locations in the county using $45,000 worth of materials donated by Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company’s corporate giving and community involvement division.

David Kersten, vice president of communications with Honeywell, said their employees are as excited to find a need and roll up their sleeves as the locations are to have the work done.

“We get back out of it far more than we give,” said Kersten. “Our employees look forward to this event every year and are always asking me when we are doing the next project. We have a great history with Polk County. They’re great to work with and give us great feedback about where the needs are in the community. We’re more than happy to help since it gives our employees a great deal of pride to give back as a core part of our values.”

Volunteers visited the Lake Alfred Fire Station to paint and replace ceiling tiles and carpets. They also devoted their time at Sertoma Camp Endeavor in Dundee to build picnic tables and park benches, replace doors, paint and landscape. More than 140 bicycles were assembled at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida, Parramore Club and Citrus Center Boys and Girls Clubs to be given to needy children.

In Davenport, there were three projects including building picnic tables and sheds, painting and landscaping for the Sunshine Foundation’s Dream Village, painting and landscaping the Davenport Community Center and installing dugouts, as well as building spectator benches and painting at the city of Davenport’s Lewis Matthews Field.

Alice Spivey, executive director of Rebuilding Together of Polk County, said Honeywell’s service blitz is the largest volunteer event Polk County has ever had, giving a boost to children, families and firefighters. As a national sponsor since 2003, Honeywell has invested more than $1 million in Rebuilding Together’s work, preserving and revitalizing low-income houses and communities. With Rebuilding Together, more than 1,500 Honeywell volunteers have repaired more than 100 homes for low-income homeowners and the company has also provided funding to launch six new affiliates across the United States.

“These projects will have a major impact on the community and are so needed,” said Spivey. “For example, the sports complex in Davenport has been neglected since there has been no money to maintain it. Kids that played soccer there left, so by fixing the dugouts and putting in fencing it will revitalize the facility in hopes of bringing the teams back. We’re hoping the same is accomplished by fixing up the community center as the pool couldn’t open this year due to lack of funds. With the new landscaping and fencing, hopefully that center will generate much needed revenue for the city of Davenport again.”

As more than 200 volunteers bustled around the grounds of Camp Endeavor in Dundee Thursday with paint brushes and hammers in hand, Camp Director Thelma Henry looked on with a broad smile.

“It’s really a wonderful thing to see so many of these people come out,” said Henry. “There are always things that need to be done and we are more than happy to see it happen.”

Camp Endeavor is a privately-supported, non-profit summer camp program designed and organized to serve deaf and hard of hearing children, their hearing siblings, and hearing children with deaf or hard of hearing parents. The camp also offers Sertoma Camp Endeavor which provides an education program for deaf and hard of hearing youth that promotes social and personal growth, environmental awareness, independence and citizenship. In addition, the program provides a year-round camping facility for all other special needs children’s groups and organizations.

“We had close to 50 kids here last year and they really had a ball,” said Henry. “Now to see how nice it’s shaping up with the repainting, landscaping, and new picnic tables and benches, it will be an even better experience for these kids who truly deserve it. I’m forever grateful for the work everyone is doing.”

The Sunshine Foundation’s Dream Village in Davenport specializes in making dreams come true for kids living with a lifelong disease, but to have the tables turned and see one of their own wishes realized by a flood of hardworking volunteers was a welcomed gift.

“Over the past three years, we have come to experience Honeywell’s generosity through their work in renovating Dream Village,” said Kate Sample, president of Sunshine Foundation. “Honeywell’s ongoing dedication allows us to continue to make our children’s dreams come true.”

Honeywell’s national sales organizations come to Florida each year for their annual conference and combine business with the pleasure of choosing sites to do volunteer work in Central Florida communities. Since 2003, more than 9,000 Honeywell employees have dedicated 71,000 volunteer hours to 306 projects in the United States, Canada and Mexico, resulting in some $8 million in market value repairs and more than $1 million in employee donations.