Sunday wasn’t a regular old day. There was that big football game with the surprise ending, for one thing. And then there was the wet, heavy snow that piled up deeper than the forecasters had said it would.
“It feels like that was all I did on Sunday: shovel, shovel, shovel, watch football, shovel,” said Mark Coleman.
A member of the Naperville Jaycees, Coleman is this year’s chairman of the volunteer shoveling service the organization offers to seniors and others in the community who have mobility challenges that make snow removal difficult or impossible.
Two dozen Jaycees have volunteered to handle the business end of a shovel this winter, Coleman said, and the group has 28 households on its post-snowfall rounds.
Coleman handles the coordination details with help from Google, using a map that designates households that have asked for shoveling help using teardrop-shaped pins, and stars showing where the volunteers live, so they can go to homes near home.
“That’s kind of a working document,” said Coleman, who doubles up some of the volunteers who live close to a couple of requesting households.
Sometimes teamwork makes sense, even for those committed to clearing just one driveway in addition to their own. Coleman said he, his brother and a neighbor adopted that strategy over the weekend.
“You get three guys who jump out of a truck, you can get a driveway done pretty quick,” he said.
The organization is aware of the program’s value, particularly in light of reports that three DuPage County men, all in their 60s, succumbed to cardiac arrest after shoveling on Sunday. One of the victims lived in Naperville.
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None of the volunteers has been seriously injured while taking part in the program, but Coleman said one of them wrenched his back Sunday. Other volunteers just chipped in to pick up the slack.
“We deal with adversity, and make it work,” he said.
The people who receive the help are grateful.
“The person who has come has always been so very good to us,” said Joan Brummel, who lives on North Main Street with her husband Elmer. “A branch came down from a neighbor’s tree and they even sawed it off, with a neighbor’s help.”
The Brummels, both of whom use walkers, have been on the Jaycees’ shoveling list for the past three years.
“I don’t know what we’d do without them,” she said.
Word about the program appears to be getting out.
“Since it snowed on Sunday, we received three additional requests for help,” Coleman said Tuesday. “I’m thankful to say we haven’t turned anybody away this year. We’ve been able to make it work.”
He started fielding requests in the fall.
“Even before the season started, we had such a miserable winter last year, I think a lot of people reached out in preparation for that,” he said.
In preparation for the recent blizzard, Coleman made a screen shot of the forecast and emailed it to the volunteers, suggesting they get out in the morning to make a first pass, and follow up later in the day. The advice was well-taken, with many of the shovelers making multiple passes at the driveways.
Zak Kates has been involved with the program for several years. Usually it involves less heavy lifting than what the most recent snowstorm demanded.
“All 20 inches of snow this weekend was … quite the effort for us Jaycees! ” Kates said by email. “We’re proud that we have this great program.”