It was another overcast morning on the South Coast for some folks. But for others there was a ray of sunshine.

It came in the form of volunteers carrying rakes and shovels.

About 60 people - individuals and from local organizations - arrived at Mingus Park at 9 a.m. Saturday. By noon they had cleaned up the yards of 14 disabled senior citizens as part of the United Way Day of Caring.

Candy Breeden of North Bend watched from her front door as local dentist, Devin Brice, and Wes and Pam Plummer, owners of Tri-County Plumbing, and their two children scurried around her yard pulling weeds, weed eating and mowing.

"I think it's wonderful. My goodness," Breeden said. "I haven't had this much activity around here in a long time."

Adam, 6, was hoeing, while his little sister, Devin, 4, helped her mom pull weeds.

"As a kid, my mother used to send us out to pull weeds," Breeden said.

Breeden moved from her home of 35 years in Palm Springs, Calif., to North Bend five years ago. Prior to moving, she had broken her femur. Not long after she found out she had a heart condition and needed open heart surgery - a triple bypass and mitrovalve repair. She also is diabetic and on disability.

"It's very hard for me to push the lawn mower," Breeden said. "I'd push it for two minutes and I'd get out of breath and have to stop. I just don't have the energy, say, that I had five years ago."

Her house is on two lots, with grass in front and back up to a foot tall in spots.

Pam, who's been on the United Way board for three years, said it took them more than three hours to clean up Breeden's yards. After she and her children pulled the weeds, she ran to the store to buy plants to fill the empty flowerbed.

"We brought our kids today so they could learn about community service," Plummer said, adding that her children help out in their yards at home.

"Yeah, we have lots of weeds to pull out," Devin said, holding up Lily, a 6-month-old dachshund, one of two family dogs that came with them that day.

By the end of the morning, the volunteers hauled away about 10 bags of clippings and weeds from Breeden's home in a Farr's True Value truck on loan for the day.

Jayson Wartnik, United Way of Southwestern Oregon community service committee chairman, said volunteers hauled up to four pickup loads per house to the Public Disposal and Recycling Center in Coos Bay, which accepted the loads free of charge.

Bill Harsh, regional United Way executive director since 1982, said the board chose something to do this year that would directly affect community members.

"In the past, we've gone to agencies," Harsh said. "We painted the Myrtle Point senior center and have done landscaping at the women's safety center. This is the first time we've interacted with the community."

He said most of the seniors who signed up for the yard work said they enjoy gardening, but needed a boost to get started this spring. Some of them were on oxygen and several were widows whose husbands used to do the work.

"Three or four have just been in the hospital," he said. "One lady just had a second heart attack. There's a gentleman who just had a stroke.

"It's a true need."

He said the board is considering doing the same project next year. He hopes then they will be able to do more people's yards. About 100 people had contacted United Way about having their yards cleaned up this year. They chose those who needed assistance the most, and by the luck of the draw.

"The response has just been great," Harsh said. "I wish we had more volunteers so we could do more."