The Heart of Stark: Hundreds of Stark County volunteers help with United Way Day of Caring
In partnership with The Repository, every Monday, Stark Community Foundation is highlighting positive happenings in our community. Here’s to Good News Mondays!
Earlier this month, United Way of Greater Stark County held its 29th annual Day of Caring event where nearly 300 volunteers throughout Stark County helped 18 nonprofits with projects they might not have otherwise been able to accomplish.
In one day, nearly $25,000 worth of work was put back into our community through volunteer time.
To participate in Day of Caring, nonprofits submit service projects they need assistance completing, and then individuals and workplace volunteer groups are matched up to complete them. Each year, it is United Way’s largest volunteer event. Project tasks include weeding and landscaping, painting, deep cleaning, construction, sorting and organizing and more.
Volunteers spent hours giving back to area nonprofits like Boys and Girls Club of Massillon, JRC, and Project Rebuild.
This year’s volunteer teams represented companies including Aqua Ohio, Aultman Health Foundation, Dollar Bank Servicing Center, Edward Jones, Employers Health, Hall, Kistler & Co., Hendrickson Trailer Commercial Vehicle Systems, Huntington National Bank, Marathon Petroleum Co. LP Ohio Refining Division, Miller Weldmaster, Nationwide Insurance, Reliable Supply Chains, Stark Community Foundation, Timken Co., TimkenSteel and United Way.
“Day of Caring has been a successful and beloved volunteer event because it offers the chance for individuals to get out into the community and make a difference,” said Laura Prengaman, resource development project manager at United Way.
“After a few hours they can see the impact that they made, whether it was cleaning, landscaping, painting or something else. The best part is that when you take a step back, you can see that all of these groups coming together makes a large impact for the community as a whole.”
For the past 12 years, Huntington National Bank has been the presenting sponsor of Day of Caring, and even worked with United Way to transition the event to a drop-off and curbside collection of donation items when the pandemic presented challenges of gathering in person in 2020 and 2021.
“Huntington is so proud to support Day of Caring for the 12th consecutive year,” said Sandy Upperman, community president of greater Canton for Huntington National Bank. “By rolling up our sleeves on a community focused project alongside our neighbors, we are living our purpose of looking out for all people.”
Day of Caring is one of many milestones this year as United Way celebrates 100 years of serving our community. To learn more, visit www.uwstark.org.
As the community’s trusted partner in giving, Stark Community Foundation helps individuals, families, businesses and nonprofits achieve their philanthropic goals through a variety of charitable funds and strategic initiatives. Ranked in the top 10 percent of community foundations in the country, the Foundation and its family of donors have granted $215 million to nonprofits since 1963. Learn how you can simplify your giving and amplify your impact at www.starkcf.org.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: A shoutout to United Way of Greater Stark County's Day of Caring
