Volunteers restore Farmamerica sites

Farmamerica is currently carrying out a few restoration and renovation projects around many of its various sites, and has found a unique company to do the work.

“A Year to Volunteer,” a non-profit organization created by Shar and Phil Roos of Arizona, visited Farmamerica starting on June 5 and stayed on-site to finish the renovations until Friday, June 16. They were joined by a caravan of at least 15 RVs carrying an estimated 30 volunteers from around the local area, the state, and even the country.

The work they took on included renovating the Agrihall, completely replacing the siding and restoring the interior of the blacksmith building, and building new stairs to the 1930s farmhouse and also giving the siding a fresh coat of paint.

“It’s been great having so many volunteers help out with this project,” Roos said. “Farmamerica is such a wonderful place to be. And everyone in Waseca has been so helpful.

“We’ve made a lot of trips to the hardware store,” she added.

Shar and her husband Phil have been working at state parks among other places to volunteer their time to build, landscape, and renovate since 2019. The original intention was to travel the world, according to Shar.

“At first, my husband said that he wanted to travel the world,” Roos joked. “I wasn’t too sure about doing that. I instead suggested we travel around the country and do volunteer work. I think that was his intention all along and he wanted to talk me down to that, but we agreed on that and we’ve been doing our thing ever since.”

The couple began their first project at a state park in Florida. But just as they were getting busy, Covid 19 happened.

“It didn’t affect us all that much since most of the work we do is outside,” Roos said. “We just had to tell our volunteers to wear masks and stay six feet apart.”

Since that hurdle, the Rooses have been around the country building and landscaping at different parks, refuges, and centers for education like Farmamerica. Their last project was in Wisconsin’s Raptor Education Group near the city of Antigo.

So far, the Rooses have been in 22 states; their trip to Farmamerica was their first to Minnesota outside of being at the airport. They plan on heading to North Dakota for their next project; by doing so they are advancing on a goal to have worked in half the states across the country by the end of the summer.

“The goal is to eventually hit all 50,” Shar said.

The lingering question is with a moving crew, how do the volunteers come? Some of them come from the local area. In fact, Farmamerica program director Jenny Delnay — who reached out to A Year to Volunteer for the projects — claimed that her parents are among the volunteers who have worked with the Rooses and the organization.

“That’s how I reached out to them,” Delnay said.

Others are dedicated to the cause no matter where the projects are. “We usually advertise and reach out to people through our social media,” Shar explained. “We’ll take in anyone. If you are willing to work hard and want to help make a difference by volunteering, we’ll be happy to have you join us!”

The work involved a two-week process of removing old siding, and doing much-needed repairs.

“We needed a lot of work done in the Agrihall, the blacksmith building, and the 1930s farmhouse,” Delnay admitted.

Given the significant projects, Farmamerica qualified for grants through the state to pay for most of the work, Delnay added. “We are thankful to them for their help.”

And the Rooses and their volunteers at A Year to Volunteer are happy to do it.

“This is what we love to do,” Roos said. “We love volunteering and serving local communities. Everyone has been so kind to us here in Waseca. We’ll remember this for a long time.”