Last Friday, August 15th, could have been a bad day.
Foothills United Way's Day of Caring was set for that day. Day of Caring is our largest event of the year, and this one was shaping up to be the biggest yet, with more than 900 volunteers registered to do projects across Boulder and Broomfield Counties. It's a day that is seven months of planning and countless hours in the making, to ensure smooth operation and a successful day.
Everything was in place. The volunteers were ready. The agencies and organizations hosting projects were ready. All the pieces were in place for the big celebration picnic at Gateway Park Fun Center. Then the rain came.
And came. And came. It started Thursday night and for the most part, it didn't stop. As dry as Colorado has been this summer, it's hard to curse the rain. But it's tempting to do so when it all seems to come in one day - the one day when we had hundreds of volunteers scheduled to do outdoor projects like painting, landscaping and building.
Fortunately, with seven months of preparation, you can handle a few curveballs. Or soaking wet mudballs, as the case might be. So, with a little shuffling here and a little quick-thinking there, the day turned out pretty much as planned, just much more damp.
When all was said and done, Day of Caring 2008 was a record-breaker despite the bad weather. Approximately 940 volunteers turned out to do projects, donating more than 3,700 hours and more than $73,000 worth of work to local nonprofits and other organizations. All are records for Day of Caring.
“What an amazing group of people! Today really puts into action our Live United theme,” said Barbara Pingrey, President and CEO of Foothills United Way. “Together, we can do much more than any one of us alone and the efforts of hundreds of volunteers have certainly shown that. Countless lives have been influenced today, and that will have an enormous ripple effect throughout our communities.”
Those hundreds of volunteers represent 35 local business and organizations. Together, they completed approximately 87 projects benefitting 47 local organizations.
This year’s Day of Caring projects included:
• rebuilding an outdoor mounting area at Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center
• packing and delivering “blizzard bags” and other food items to clients of Longmont Meals on Wheels and Meals on Wheels of Boulder
• painting the gymnasium at the YMCA of Boulder Valley
• sorting and organizing food donations at Sister Carmen Community Center in Lafayette
• salvaging and recycling old water valves at Midway Park in Broomfield.
The picnic at Gateway Park even attracted hundreds of volunteers, gathered under 3 large tents to celebrate the day's accomplishments and to kickoff of Foothills United Way’s 2008 Community Support Campaign. Donations made during the annual campaign each year provide the bulk of funding for critical needs addressed by United Way’s partner programs in the community.
From all of us at Foothills United Way, a huge thank you to everyone who teamed up and took part in making Day of Caring 2008 the best ever. Looks like we've all got our work cut out for us next year!
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Gold level event sponsors for Day of Caring 2008 are: Covidien, Faegre & Benson LLP, IBM, InfoPrint Solutions Company, Premier Members Federal Credit Union, Pasta Jay’s and Roche Colorado. Silver Sponsor: Longmont United Hospital. Bronze Sponsor: Lexmark International.
