Ask Norm Cady why he participates in Make A Difference Day, and he’ll give you his best steely-eyed stare.

“We’re doing what we ought to be doing,” the 82-year-old East Wenatchee man said, after he and buddies helped pick up trash around a mountain lake. “That’s right, we’re doing what everybody should be doing — helping make things better.”

If not everybody, then a lot of Wenatchee Valley residents — thousands of them — set aside their busy lives and shelved their hectic schedules Saturday for one day of helping others. They joined millions of people across the country who volunteered time, effort and dollars in what’s become a national event of benefit and cooperation.

On the 19th annual Make A Difference Day, many local folks spent their morning cleaning, painting, repairing, building, mowing and planting, while others collected food, blankets, bikes, diapers, clothes and scores of other items — all to better the lives of people they don’t even know. Then, after lunch, many of the volunteers moved to new locations and repeated the efforts through most of the afternoon.

Laurel Helton, the event’s local organizer, said more than 8,000 people participated across North Central Washington in hundreds of individual projects, some planned weeks in advance and some spontaneous.

“This year, everyone’s enthusiasm has been tremendous,” said Helton. “Maybe it’s the economy’s slowdown, maybe it’s low stocks in the food banks, but something is sparking people’s interest and eagerness.”

Food bank donations were double the amount from last year, Helton said. One collection spot run by the NCW Association of Realtors at Grocery Outlet in Wenatchee pulled in more than 3,600 pounds of food and raised nearly $4,000 for food banks in Wenatchee, Leavenworth and Entiat. And other collection sites — for food, blankets, and other items — had similar success, she said.

At Clear Lake, about a mile up from Stemilt Loop Road south of Wenatchee, a group of more than two dozen geocachers — including Norm Cady — scoured the lake’s banks for litter and debris. They filled a pickup with 24 extra-large plastic trash bags packed with beer bottles, cans, paper and a few camp stove propane tanks.

Geocaching is a treasure-hunting game using GPS coordinates and gear to locate hidden containers, called caches. Mike Lawson, organizer of the local geocacher group Cache-cadians, estimates more than 1,000 caches are hidden within a 50 mile radius of Wenatchee.

“The litter here shouldn’t get this bad, but it does,” said Lawson. “Lots of people come here to fish and camp, so the trash builds up. We thought this would be a good place to put our efforts.”

Some geocache volunteers traveled from Tri-Cities and Federal Way to participate in Saturday’s clean-up, said Tisha Barber of Wenatchee. She noted that litter pickup is standard procedure for all geocache members and events. A clean-up program called CITO — Cache In, Trash Out — is part of every geocache outing, she said.

At Wenatchee’s YWCA, more than 40 volunteers attacked several large projects that included re-roofing the building’s entry dormers and spiffing up a remodeled basement space for a new cafe set to open next spring. Volunteers also cleaned carpets and windows throughout the YWCA building and sorted and priced clothing in the group’s retail boutique. The day ended with a volunteer-run silent auction of donated items.

“So many people help us in so many ways,” said Jenny Pratt, the local YWCA’s executive director. “Today we got special help, and that’s been great. But all through the year people are donating time and materials to make this place work.”

Up on the roof, Rene Albarado, owner of NW Extreme Roofing, said he and his crew try to squeeze in volunteer work year-round to benefit local charity groups.

“But Make A Difference Day is special,” he said, watching as new shingles got nailed to an entry dormer’s angled roof. “We’re here because it’s the right thing to do, to help out our neighbors in the community.”

In Quincy, hundreds of people turned out to support efforts to build a new library, said local Make A Difference Day organizer Bonnie Kniveton. A Saturday night event — Beer, Brats, Bonfire & Band — at the Twin Firs Turf farm drew supporters from around the Quincy Valley for a five-hour fundraiser party that included food and music. A downtown site in Quincy has been chosen for the new library, but construction has yet to start.

Serve Wenatchee Valley, an umbrella group for local churches and pastors, may have organized the day’s largest group of volunteers. More than 15 local churches sent an estimated 220 people to help with nearly 60 community projects — from landscaping at Ohme Gardens to window-washing at the home of a churchgoer’s mother. The group labeled the volunteer effort ServeFest.

“It’s a day for taking our churches and our beliefs out into the community,” said Bob Shepard, executive director for Serve Wenatchee Valley. He pointed to T-shirts worn by scores of church volunteers that read: “The Church Has Left the Building.”

“It means we’re leaving the building and fanning out to help in the community,” he added. “A church doesn’t have to be held within four walls.”

Tim Wilbur, pastor for New Song Community Church in East Wenatchee, said he’d been involved with previous efforts on Make A Difference Day, “but this year, right here today, is the best experience ever.”

He said his teams of volunteers worked hard at various community projects, but that he never heard a word of complaint. “What we heard was a lot of laughter,” he said. “People doing good work and having a good time.”

Mike Irwin: 665-1179

irwin@wenatcheeworld.com