What a Day of Caring

Wow! – Awesome! – What a day! – I love to help people!–these are words expressed by volunteers and non-profits involved with United Way’s 20th Annual Day of Caring. We’d love to hear the community’s thoughts on this special event where community service projects were completed all throughout Washington County. If you were one of the 900 volunteers – share your experience. If you were an agency or someone who was helped – explain what this meant to you. We’d love to hear from anyone else who is inspired to give away some of the most valuable assets to a community –time, talents and compassion.

As the person leading this event, I will share my thoughts here. It is incredibly rewarding for me to sit back once the dust settles from the day, and reflect on the numerous aspects that make it so fantastic. It’s a little overwhelming to list them all, which is a great problem to have! Here are a few . . .

Having First Data’s continued support as lead sponsor of this event is certainly incredible for us. They had a record-breaking team of over 200 this year! Great job!

Another great thing to see is the effective way talents are connected to a project and the synergies that are created. Artistic and creative volunteers painted murals –one team in an exam room at Safe Place, Child Advocacy Center and another in the women’s room at the REACH Cold Weather Shelter. Obviously, their work goes beyond putting paint on a wall. The once sterile settings have been transformed into places of hope. Women and children not only interact withcaring staff, their surroundings now provide encouragement as well. The very appropriate words of “Have no fear”spoken by Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat that appears on Safe Place’s wall is very appropriate to comfort abused children.

The opportunity for volunteers to learn more about non-profits is another reward. I’ve heard many times how impressed people were when they got the “behind the scenes” look at the operations of many agencies. We hope that this serves as a springboard for valuable relationships to be built with the team for continued volunteerism. Then there are those seemingly impossible tasks that are tackled, such as conquering a “jungle” and turning it back into a yard. What a sense of accomplishment this is for the volunteers.

The projects that leave the most lasting impression are those at the elderly and disabled persons’ homes. Many times these individuals have the “will” but not the “way” to do simple tasks in their homes. We also wanted to focus this year on their safety – making homes more accessible, helping preventing residents from falling and seeing if there were any fire hazards. Installing railings and grab bars, repairing steps and checking batteries in smoke detectors were just a few things that were done. I receive so many emotional and heartfelt phone calls from these residents. They are so grateful those people who take a moment out of their busy schedules to give them the time and attention that they deserve.

The Herald-Mail referred to the Day of Caring volunteer force as a “battalion-size army.” So, I encourage everyone to please share your memories of the day and how your “battle scars” of paint-splattered shirts, poision ivy, sweaty brows and sore muscles was a day well-spent.
--Blog by Jenny Fleming, United Way Community Impact Director