Over 250 United Way of Lake County Volunteers Participate in 31st Annual Day of Caring Thursday, June 22, 2023
Over 250 volunteers from companies, organizations, and agencies throughout Lake County participated in United Way of Lake County’s (UWLC) 31st Annual Day of Caring on Thursday, June 22, 2023.
UWLC mobilizes the power of a large group of volunteers to make a meaningful impact in the community by pairing them with projects submitted by nonprofits. This year, a total of 23 projects were adopted by 26 volunteer groups.
“Bringing community together to impact lives is our focus, and Day of Caring provides a snapshot of what we do all year long – galvanizing people around solutions to build a stronger community,” said UWLC President and CEO Dione DeMitro. “I’m so thankful for the volunteers who took part. It’s days like today that show how deeply this community cares for one another.”
The concept of Day of Caring centers around helping local nonprofits with money-saving projects while providing volunteers with a window into the work they do every day. “It is a few hours of service intended to provide a connection that promotes volunteerism throughout the year,” DeMitro said.
Projects took place throughout eight Lake County communities which included Concord, Eastlake, Fairport Harbor, Kirtland, Mentor, Painesville, Perry, and Willoughby.
Volunteers fulfilled a variety of needs that included cleaning, sorting, painting, weeding, trimming hedges, power washing buildings, spreading mulch, planting flowers, and hosting socials for kids.
Volunteers from the Quota Club of Lake County host a children’s carnival every year. This year’s event was held at Maple Elementary School in Painesville for the kids enrolled in the Lake County YMCA's Summer Learning Loss Prevention Reading Program. The children were treated to lunch compliments of the Painesville City School Teacher’s Union followed by a carnival featuring a variety of activities with prizes.
“We are thrilled to take part in United Way’s Day of Caring. It means so much to us to be able to uplift the children of our community,” said event organizer Kay Hatala of the Quota Club of Lake County.
On display at the carnival was a hand-made quilt constructed from all of the United Way of Lake County Day of Caring t-shirts they have received over the many years they have participated.
Another project involving children took place at Chagrin River Park where volunteers from the Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library (WEPL) hosted a tie-dye t-shirt social for kids from Torchlight Youth Mentoring Alliance.
According to Patrick Culliton of WEPL, “The tie-dye t-shirts created by the kids were just as vibrant and colorful as our community.”
Other heavy lifts included landscaping for UWLC agency partner Forbe’s House, Lake County’s only domestic violence shelter. Over 20 volunteers from Huntington showed up for the job of landscaping where they enjoyed lunch donated by Redhawk Grille.
Over 40 volunteers from Cardinal A Visa Solution took on painting, landscaping, and carpentry work at the Lake County YMCA Outdoor Family Center in Perry, and over 25 volunteers from Winter Equipment, who also sponsored UWLC’s Day of Caring, spent many hours at the gardens of Mooreland Mansion mulching, laying stone pathways, trimming hedges and more.
# # #