United Way’s Day of Caring brings hundreds of volunteers to local causes

United Way of Lebanon County held this year’s Day of Caring on Saturday, April 26, drawing hundreds of volunteers to help with projects around Lebanon.

There were around 600 volunteers who braved the rainy weather, according to United Way of Lebanon County director of community development Deborah Hornick, and Lebanon High School students made up around 250 of them. She said the typical turnout for the entire event is around 250 to 300 people.

The day started out in the organization’s new office location at 604 Cumberland St. Volunteers could stop by for donated coffee, snacks, drinks, and bagels.

Then the troops rolled out.

Sporting matching T-shirts, they went to downtown parking lots, camps, and the city’s parks and playgrounds. Common tasks included picking up trash, weeding, sweeping, and mulching under and around equipment.

Erin Velazquez, executive director of United Way Lebanon County, said Day of Caring has been happening annually for decades and is the largest volunteer day in the county. Even so, she said they were “overwhelmed” by this year’s response.

“We had 56 projects this year,” she said. “Any park that you can imagine within the county, but also within the city limits, we mobilize volunteers and hook them up with projects.”

She said they contacted all the local nonprofits in the area and asked if they had any projects they needed helping hands for. If they said yes, United Way added the projects to their website for volunteers to sign up for as a group or as individuals.

United Way coordinates the projects and has someone at each site with tools, supplies, and instructions.

Velazquez said this kind of volunteer work is a win-win for all parties involved. Volunteers get to help out and see their immediate impact on their community, and local parks get a clean and refreshing.

“I think it’s just about taking ownership of your community and keeping it clean and making it a nice place to live for their future families,” she said. “It’s a great place to live. We have some great resources here, and we need to keep it nice. But I think also working with their peers and their friends on a common cause is great for them too, but also just how important volunteering is. We rely so heavily on volunteers, and we couldn’t do what we do without them.”

With high school students making up around half of this year’s forces, United Way leaders wanted to stress how young people can make a difference.

Velazquez said the relationship between the nonprofit and Lebanon School District goes both ways. They provide resources to the district, and the district staff helps with monetary donations and providing students for these volunteer events.

“Their leadership promotes it as a cause that’s important,” she said. “They also participate in our annual giving campaign where the employees donate, so I feel it’s a nice cycle. It’s a nice partnership. It’s a good circle of giving and receiving.”

About a mile away from the office, high school students gathered under the pavilion at Progressive Playground, led by teacher and garden club adviser Leahn Agnew-Karcheski. She gave instructions to her students, and then they put on gloves and got to work weeding and picking up trash so they could lay down new mulch.

Agnew-Karcheski said she is a repeat volunteer and loves the opportunity to put positivity back into the city.

“There are so many positive things about the city, so this is just another opportunity to get involved with that and showcase that,” she said as she cleared unwanted plants from the playground.

Beyond the clearly visible impacts of cleaning up the community, Agnew-Karcheski said volunteering helps build student self-confidence and allows adults to see young people doing good.

“[Volunteering] develops good, genuine, actual self-confidence, and kids need that more today than I think they ever needed it,” she said. “The other thing is I think it’s important for the community to see them because sometimes I think teenagers are judged rather harshly, and there are a lot of wonderful things about them, and I think it’s great for the community to see them in action in a positive way.”