More than a hundred community projects across Iowa are getting free paint to spruce up everything from a century-old schoolhouse in Ackley to wooden bridges in Waverly.
April is Keep Iowa Beautiful month and the 104 projects are winners in the Paint Iowa Beautiful program. Doug Vogel, vice president of Diamond Vogel Paints, based in Orange City, says it’s a natural fit. “We are located in a small community in Iowa and we love our community,” Vogel says. “It’s a great way to share that love with other people in Iowa and it’s a great way to connect with people through paint.”
Over the past 16 years, Diamond Vogel has donated more than 10-thousand gallons of paint for nearly 900 community projects statewide. Vogel, who’s the grandson of the company’s founder, says the program helps to spark enthusiasm and town pride. “It’s great to get volunteers connected with their community,” Vogel says. “Paint is just such a simple project to really improve the appearance of something pretty easily. As people drive by it in the community, it just makes people feel good when they see something that’s been cleaned up and given some new life.”
The executive director of Keep Iowa Beautiful says Paint Iowa Beautiful helps increase assistance to neighborhoods, communities, historic projects and other public service organizations, while improving the beauty of Iowa, its countryside and its communities. Vogel agrees. “It’s an emotional thing but it’s so simple,” Vogel says. “What I see a lot of times, too, is you fix up one thing in the neighborhood and people start fixing up other things as well. It seems like it spurs on other projects.”
This is the second year Diamond Vogel agreed to expand the paint allocation to include Iowa’s 70 state parks, as 2020 will mark the 100th anniversary of Iowa’s state park system.