Maxine Bailey

Staff Photo by Dan Henry Elizaabeth Bethell, left, Tara Biondolillo, bottom, and Deb Kee, top, work on a mural in the lunch room at Spring Creek Elementary on Friday. Over 200 UNUM employees volunteered Friday to make renovations and clean up around the school.

Cloudy skies threatened, but the rain held off as hundreds of volunteers gave their time to fix up two public schools on Friday.

More than 300 Unum employees descended on Spring Creek Elementary first thing in the morning to mulch, landscape, build and paint.

When first-grade teacher Trinka Roueche stopped by to collect her classroom’s hermit crabs, she was surprised to have a hard time finding a parking space.

“It’s like ants all over the building — I love it,” the 17-year Spring Creek veteran said. “This is amazing. I’m overwhelmed.”

Unum employees participate in a community service day every year, but this is the first time the company has chosen to put their efforts behind a public school, said Cathy Barrett, Unum’s community relations manager.

The insurance company donated about $6,000 in supplies and 3,000 hours of manpower to the job, Ms. Barrett said.

“We wanted to bring attention to the importance of quality public education,” she said. “I think everyone’s going to leave today feeling really good about what they’re doing.”

Dave Galloway, who works in enrollment at Unum, joked that volunteering sounded better than working inside until he started really working up a sweat shoveling mulch.

“It’s a good thing to show you care and to do something for the community,” he said. “It’s so little, but if we don’t do it, who will?”

Meanwhile, across town, more than 80 volunteers got to work on the first day of a school makeover project at the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, the new all-girls charter school scheduled to open in July.

While most of the volunteers were from local companies and organizations that have supported the school financially or otherwise, a small group traveled from Lubbock, Texas, to spend two days painting.

Brett Wiggins, youth pastor at Springs Fellowship in Lubbock, drove some of his youth group to Chattanooga for their summer mission trip.

“After two days here, we’re going to help with a (vacation Bible school) program and do some homeless ministry on Sunday,” he said.

Maxine Bailey, one of the girls’ school directors, said seeing all the volunteers on campus made her even more excited about the building’s opening.

“Today to have all of these volunteers give their physical labor for free, it just gets us one step closer,” she said. “I could not have dreamed this one.”

Nancy Patterson, a local nonprofit consultant who has been working with the charter school, came prepared Friday for painting, and then some.

Her borrowed tool belt stored a hairbrush, nail file, Band-Aids, tape measure, comb, fingernail salve, lip balm, all-natural hand sanitizer and a tube of Ben-Gay.

“Because you just never know,” she said.