When schools closed and the shut down order began, the city of Liberty Lake swung into action. It activated a new Facebook group called Connecting Liberty Lake and recruited volunteers to sign up to help their neighbors with things like grocery deliveries.

Our goal is to connect people who need help with people who need assistance, said city administrator Katy Allen. We have a lot of volunteers signing up on Facebook.

Its a tried-and-true method for the city. A similar group called the Snow Angels matches volunteers with residents who need help shoveling the snow off sidewalks and driveways. Another group rakes leaves in the fall and still another does spring yard work. Weve used that same platform, Allen said.

It seems like every season we have something, said Operations and Maintenance Director Jennifer Camp.

When the city was under a boil-water order earlier this week it was able to martial volunteers who had signed up to shovel snow and rake leaves to bring bottled water to those who couldnt pick it up. It was very successful during the boil-water advisory, she said.

The Connecting Liberty Lake group has been popular since it began a month ago. There are 100 people signed up, Camp said.

But for some reason, no one has contacted the city to ask for help. Camp said theyre not sure if its because people dont know about it or if people are getting help in other ways.

Im not sure what it is, she said. This is different than our other efforts.

Camp said she has seen people seeking and receiving help on other community Facebook pages, including a mother who couldnt leave the house and needed diapers. Someone in the community volunteered to go to the store and get her some.

What Ive seen on the community pages is a lot of people helping each other out, she said. People are looking out for each other.

People can ask for whatever help they need, and the city will match them with a volunteer, Camp said. It could be anything from getting groceries to yard work.

Its really between the citizen asking for what they need and what a volunteer is willing to do, she said. The tasks could be endless, really. We just facilitate the coordination between the volunteer and the citizen in need.

Those who are in need of help can contact the city by calling (509) 755-6727 or sending an email to onlineinquiry@libertylakewa.gov. The city will then reach out to a volunteer who can help.

Meanwhile, the people who signed up to volunteer will go on the citys list of people willing to help in a time of need.

You can never have too many, Camp said. Once we create a database of volunteers, we can tap them for other things.

Thats something the city has already done. The snow angel and leaf-raking volunteers not only helped during the boil-water advisory, but the city also used the list to recruit volunteers to help set up the Winter Glow Christmas lighting event. They had so many people respond that they had to tell people to stop coming.

Allen said its clear people in Liberty Lake want to help each other.

If we had a natural disaster, I bet we could get 100 volunteers without trying, she said.

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Connecting Liberty Lake ready to help: Citys volunteers wait for calls from those in need - The Spokesman-Review