DALTON, Ga. — Stephen Gregg, a teacher at Westwood School, says he can’t wait until Monday morning when students go outside at recess and see the fresh paint on the school’s playground.

“Children need to know there are people who care about them beyond their immediate family,” Gregg said. “This helps show them there’s a larger community out there that values children and that values schools.”

Westwood was one of six sites that some 215 volunteers from First Baptist Church of Dalton came to Saturday for a day of service, and one of the projects at the school was to refresh the lines and the painting of the United States on a paved portion of the playground.

“Open, free play is important for children, especially today when so much of their lives are structured,” said Gregg, who is also a member of the church and one of the volunteers painting the playground. “The playground gives them a chance to get out and just have fun, socialize and make friends.”

In addition, volunteers built two planters in the courtyard and cleaned up the school’s butterfly garden.

Martha Thomason, a teacher at the school, said both of those projects will have a positive impact on the children’s education.

“The students really get out here and plant things, study the life cycles of plants and the butterflies,” she said.

Suzanne Hooie, minister of missions and community at First Baptist, said Westwood was one of the sites the church chose for the day of service because the two have long been partners.

“All of the elementary schools in Dalton have a church partner,” she said. “We partner with Westwood in a number of ways. We do Saturday sacks, where our church packs food for children who don’t have enough food. I think we are serving 66 children right now. We come down here and tutor. Last Christmas, we provided food for, I think, 70 students and their family, all the staples of a Christmas meal.”

She said school officials chose all of the projects they were working on.

“We just said we had a host of volunteers who want to work and asked them what they needed. We’ve got about 30 people just here today,” she said.

Church member Melvyn Ottinger said church members wanted to help the children.

“But it’s also good for the church,” he said. “We all get out here and work together on a common project.”

At City of Refuge, 15 volunteers from the church were installing kitchen cabinets, painting walls, sanding hardwood floors and laying vinyl floors.

“We’ve been having a really great day, some hard work and a lot of fellowship,” said team leader Karen Griggs.

City of Refuge provides services to low-income families, including transitional housing, a food pantry, a clothing store, education programs for both children and adults, and hot meals. City of Refuge Executive Director Pamela Cudd said it relies on volunteer efforts such as those provided by the church.

“The First Baptist Church of Dalton has been one of our partners for years,” she said. “They come every year to help us out. It really is exciting when members of the community, a team of our partners, comes in like they have done today.”

Volunteers from the church also: put together care packages and letters for Charlie Troop, the Dalton-based Georgia Army National Guard unit currently deployed to Afghanistan; held a cookout at the Housing Authority of the City of Dalton for the families living there; worked on a new house for Habitat for Humanity of Dalton, Whitfield and Murray; and made and delivered Easter baskets to local nursing homes.