Volunteers help Sequim shine for ‘Beautiful Day’ service event

Published 1:30 am Monday, May 4, 2026

SEQUIM — A host of volunteers who have a mindset for service participated in Sequim Beautiful Day.

The annual multi-church service event brought out more than 150 volunteers on April 25 from six different churches and multiple nonprofit groups, such as Habitat for Humanity and Scouting America, to projects across Sequim.

Susan Chandler of Sequim Community Church helped pull weeds near the north entrance of Carrie Blake Community Park.

“Sequim is the most beautiful place to live, and we need to take care of it and steward it,” she said.

“It’s a blessing to be out here.”

Projects included landscaping, painting, power washing and others catered to mobility-challenged volunteers.

Patsy Lovelady of Dungeness Community Church helped at the event for the first time, spreading bark dust courtesy of Cascade Bark around Helen Haller Elementary with several volunteers.

“Sequim is known for helping each other, and I’m all about that,” she said.

Steve Young, another Dungeness Community Church volunteer at the school, said the event was a good way to connect with the community and show that church members care.

Associate Pastor Rick Dietzman at Sequim Community Church, who co-organizes Sequim Beautiful Day, brought the event from Silicon Valley to Sequim in 2017.

He said the idea behind it is that local churches already have volunteers in place across the community, so they unite those efforts and perform a significant number of projects at least once a year “to really bless them” and provide a positive viewpoint of what churches can do.

Sequim Beautiful Day signs can be seen at the project locations.

At Olympic Peninsula Academy, the Riley family — Josh, Heather, Dillon and Aubrey of Sequim Community Church — worked together to paint and tape off portions of Olympic Peninsula Academy’s sign.

Aubrey, a seventh-grader at the school, said it was fun to paint and that it felt good to help the sign look nicer.

Myka Stewart, 9, went with her mom Nikki to help repaint the Sequim Police Department’s dog agility course at Carrie Blake Community Park. Nikki said they attend Sequim Community Church and this was their first year to help. Myka said dogs need to train, and this was one way she could support the police.

Dietzman said projects are planned to be about three hours; Rodda Paint donated paint.

Project locations this year included Carrie Blake Community Park’s entrance, Rally in the Alley, the dog agility park, Obria Medical Clinic, Sequim Boys & Girls Club, Sequim’s Little Explorers Early Learning Center, Calvary Chapel Sequim/Ramen Shop, Helen Haller Elementary, Greywolf Elementary, Olympic Christian School, Olympic Peninsula Academy, and mobility-challenged projects at Sequim Community Church for Operation Christmas Child, Clallam County Foster Children and First Step Family Support Center.

Volunteer churches included Calvary Chapel Sequim, Dungeness Community Church, Sequim Community Church, Sequim Valley Foursquare Church, Trinity United Methodist Church and Thrive Church Sequim.

For more information, visit sequimbeautifulday.org or facebook.com/SequimBeautifulDay.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.