United Way of the Ozarks celebrates 30 years of Day of Caring with new volunteer program
Celebrating 30 years of community-wide volunteerism, United Way of the Ozarks is unveiling a new pilot program for this year's Day of Caring: United for Greatness.
United Way of the Ozarks' Day of Caring is a day-long volunteerism event. Day of Caring encourages community members to give back to local nonprofits through projects.
This year's Day of Caring is Thursday, June 23. Nearly 1,300 volunteers are participating in aiding 41 nonprofits through 105 projects. Traditionally, these projects consist of physical labor, such as painting buildings or cleaning fence rows.
The implementation of United for Greatness allows the community to give back in a different way, by pairing topic expert volunteers with nonprofits to develop solutions for top needs
In the pilot, United for Greatness will assist four nonprofits, Harmony House, Community Partnership of the Ozarks, Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri and CASA of Southwest Missouri.
Each nonprofit has varying requests:
Harmony House: create a national marketing strategy for a new program
CPO: analyze social media metrics
Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri: communication and public relations expansion
CASA of Southwest Missouri: update volunteer management
"I can speak on behalf of a nonprofit, these are things and skills that nonprofits can't afford," said Greg Burris, United Way of the Ozarks president and CEO. "We would never be able to afford to go out and bring in topic experts like this to our nonprofit ... to do one day of consulting. This is sort of a luxury that the nonprofits typically can't afford."
The program is a collaboration between United Way and the Great Game of Business, a business management consultant.
Great Game of Business will provide both their internal and contract coaches, who will act as facilitators during Day of Caring. These facilitators will work with the topic expert volunteers from local businesses to create a high involvement strategic planning process, Great Game of Business marketing and partnerships manager Michele Delcoure said. Each of the nonprofits will work with three to four expert volunteers and one facilitator throughout the day.
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Addressing these top needs will take more than one day of work. Prior to Day of Caring, virtual meetings will be held with each nonprofit and their assigned volunteers and facilitators. Between this meeting and June 23, volunteers are expected to conduct research in order to create a reasonable and effective course of action that can be addressed with nonprofit staff during Day of Caring.
As for the expert volunteers, United Way of the Ozarks opened the opportunity first to the Day of Caring's 12 sponsor organizations and the efactory, which provides business training, consulting and professional leadership development in the Ozarks.
Following Day of Caring, United Way of the Ozarks will conduct follow-up assessments with each of the nonprofits.
This year's Day of Caring kicks off with the traditional volunteer pancake breakfast from 7-8 a.m. at Hammons Field. Projects for the day begin at 8:30 a.m. Some conclude at noon, for a half day, and others continue through 4 p.m.
30 years of volunteerism
Day-long volunteerism events are hosted across the world each June by United Way organizations. While United Way of the Ozarks' is known as Day of Caring, the day has many different names. United Way Worldwide classifies it as Day of Action.
Day of Caring was brought to the Ozarks in 1992 by a handful of folks, including former United Way of the Ozarks President John Rush.
After learning about Day of Action at a conference, Rush discussed the idea with several Ozarks community members. David Cook, community bank president at The Bank of Missouri, was among the group invited to flesh out the idea.
When it started, Day of Caring's kickoff breakfast was at Phelps Grove Park. Cook recalled that about 150-200 volunteers from 10-15 businesses participated the first year. While Day of Caring has grown over the last three decades, the kickoff pancake breakfast, put on by Village Inn, has been a part of the event since '92.
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When reflecting on that first year, Cook said he was initially nervous about the event, unsure if it would succeed. He said he does not know why Day of Caring has grown as it has over the last 30 years, but he is glad it has.
"When John Rush presented the idea, we were like, 'This could really be good,'" Cook said. "I don't think any of us really ever thought that it would evolve to a couple thousands people being involved in this and people looking forward to it."
Longtime volunteer Cindy Norman, who serves on the Day of Caring board, said she is looking forward to this year's event, which will be the first official one since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 Day of Caring was canceled and last year the event was held over two days without the traditional pancake breakfast.
"We're excited because now we're coming back for the breakfast, where companies are involved and the (nonprofits) are excited to have people help them do projects," Norman said.
Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: United Way of the Ozarks celebrates 30 years of Day of Caring
