Church group delivers 2,000th cord of wood

The Do-Wooders do a lot of good along the Highway 4 corridor.

On Wednesday, they toasted a milestone (and member Sam Wiens’ 78th birthday), having delivered the 2,000th cord of wood to low-income recipients in their 19-year-old effort to lend a helping hand.
 

 The group of 20 workers, ages 49 to 84, is affiliated with the Chapel in the Pines congregation in Arnold. On any given work day, between six and 14 of them report to duty for the ministry. A dozen turned out for the latest work day in a wooded Arnold neighborhood.

Meeting twice a week whenever weather allows (and, yes, snow is usually considered weather that allows for the hardy crew), they typically process one or two cords a day and have sometimes cranked out as many as four.

A cord of wood is 4 feet high by 4 feet wide by 8 feet long, for a volume of 128 cubic feet.

“We don’t need to join a gym to stay in shape,” said Do-Wooder George Farley, adding that group leader Wil Mehlhaff’s direction does that for them.

 The work may start off easy with a goal of one cord but Mehlhaff may gradually make that two ... or maybe three ...

Which is not to say he’s all talk.

“Wil puts more time in, taking orders, sharpening equipment, being the communication link between the church and this group,” said Bob Arnold. “What you see here is actually only one-third of the work.”

And because Mehlhaff is there for most every work day, Arnold estimates that Mehlhaff “does 90 percent of all the work.”

The combined efforts of all the men and women who have been a part of the Do-Wooders adds up to some staggering numbers: 307 years of service, three miles of wood if placed end to end, more than 30,000 man-hours of labor and about a quarter-million cubic feet of wood.

Ninety-five percent of the deliveries go to Arnold and Dorrington, with the occasional jaunt to Murphys or even Angels Camp in wintertime emergency situations, Mehlhaff said.

Volunteers all hail from Arnold and Forest Meadows. The wood comes mainly from private donors who have had downed trees on their property or are clearing a lot for new construction, with local tree service workers also making some donations.

Two cords of wood are donated to each applicant, of which there were 86 last year. The effort grew from delivery of 20 cords of wood in 1990 to a high of 157 in 2007.

Former Arnold resident Leighton George started the service and Mehlhaff joined soon after. The Do-Wooders’ founder moved away several years ago for health reasons, Mehlhaff said, but the group continues based on his simple starting premise.
    “Some people needed some wood so he got some guys together,” Mehlhaff said. “Then it kind of caught on.”