When most of their fellow students were off enjoying Memorial Day weekend, a handful of Oregon State University Air Force ROTC cadets rose early and headed to Northwest Corvallis to help some new friends.

Cadet 3rd Class Kevin Porter helped organize the volunteer team of cadets, who arrived at the Home Life Center on Saturday to help assemble disaster preparedness kits for some of the center’s clients. Home Life is a local non-profit that serves adults with developmental disabilities, helping them find safe and stable living situations, jobs and education.

The cadets had worked with Home Life in the past helping with yard work, so when Porter called Home Life volunteer coordinator Raina Wickham to see if the organization needed any help, she told him about the preparedness kit project. Although not required, community service is encouraged at the Air Force ROTC.

“We do quite a bit,” Porter said. “It seems like (we volunteer) every weekend.”

Home Life’s main center includes living quarters for some clients who aren’t able to be out on their own. A number of its clients with the supportive living program who have their own apartments waited to have their backpacks filled with supplies. When the cadets arrived, some of the clients shared their Home Life stories to explain why they liked the program.

“They help with our budget and help us save money,” Susan Riche told the cadets. “We work, and they help us a lot. They’re like a family to me.”

Riche said she loves the outings that Home Life organizes and the fact that she’s been able to take classes and improve her reading and math skills.

“They help us to be somebody,” she said.

Janet Andrews, who is proud of living in her own apartment, has been with Home Life since 1993.

“I like it,” she said of the program, but warned, “You’ve got to follow the rules.” And that, she admitted with a smile, is not easy for a troublemaker like herself.

She, her friend Mike Hale and other Home Life clients lined up with their backpacks and waited for cadets to fill them with granola bars, bottled water, flashlight batteries, plastic sheets and garbage sacks, all things that they’ll keep in their closets in case a natural disaster or other emergency event occurs. The supplies were all donated by local businesses, including Costco, Bi-Mart, Home Depot and Albertons.

Raina Wickham said that in June, local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members will be helping Home Life provide disaster preparedness supplies to some of the other 50 clients the organization serves. And when the cadets quickly filled all the backpacks Saturday morning, she was able to get them to provide even more help, washing windows in the rain.