United Way's Fall Day of Caring 2010

On Friday, September 10 over 950 volunteers joined forces with United Way Capital Area for their Fall Day of Caring event. Day of Caring is an opportunity for people from the community to come together to create change in Central Texas.

Volunteers were given the opportunity to take part in meaningful activities that focused on the education, income, health and environment of our community. Together, community volunteers worked alongside United Way Capital Area to create long-lasting change in our community, leading to a better life for all.

Volunteers came from over 28 companies in town and worked to complete 41 projects in and around Austin. Total volunteer time equated to $122,379 in service back to our community. Teams volunteered because it was a great way to team-build, because their company wanted to support a specific impact area and some because volunteering was a great way for their employees to see where dollars donated during their workplace giving campaigns are being put to work.

Random quotes of kindness…

“IBM was a great group - small but mighty. They worked extremely hard and completed and exceeded all the tasks we had outlined. It ended up being fairly messy work but they did it joyfully and kept great spirits (as they were dripping wet from power washing).”—Brett Barnes, Lifeworks

“I really enjoyed the presenters of the “Learn how to help middle school students in math” project. They were very knowledgeable about the subject matter and they had amazing guides to assist us as volunteers in succeeding with math students. It was an amazing opportunity, and if I could do it again, I most definitely would.” –Maryum Mitchell, Grad Student

" I recently helped at Top Drawer Thrift store in Austin for the United Way Capital Area Day of Caring and it was a wonderful experience! The staff and other volunteers were amazing and I had so much fun helping out!" -Becky Liendo, Community Volunteer

One-third of the projects hosted at Day of Caring were led by trained United Way Capital Area Volunteer Project Leaders! The Volunteer Project Leader training is a national initiative and aims to transform casual volunteers into active community leaders by equipping participants with the leadership skills and tools they need to make meaningful and lasting change in their communities. For more information on how to become a Volunteer Project Leader, or to have this course offered to your employees on the worksite, please contact Nikki Krueger at 512-386-8211.

We invite you to “like” United Way Capital Area on Facebook and view photos of our outstanding volunteers in action!

A special thank you to our event sponsors: Freescale Semiconductor (presenting sponsor), The Long Center for the Performing Arts and Coca-Cola. Our sponsors continue to support the work of United Way year after year and for this we are eternally grateful!

If you participated as a volunteer during Day of Caring or if you were unable to attend but still want to participate in the spirit of the day and would like to make a donation to support United Way Capital Area’s work in education, income and health, please click here.