CHENANGO COUNTY – According to Chenango United Way Campaign Director Rebecca O’Connor, the Chenango United Way’s 4th Annual Day of Caring event, held Sept. 25, was a “tremendous success.”
Approximately 200 individuals, families and employees of local businesses were on hand for this year’s Day of Caring and O’Connor said she was impressed with the amount of work the various teams were able to accomplish in just one day.
Chenango United Way Board Member and Day of Caring volunteer Anne Drexler said she finds participating in the event to be a privilege.
“It made me so proud to look around last Saturday at the 200-plus volunteers who came out to give back to their community,” stated Drexler. “I saw family groups, corporate teams and caring individuals all there ready to help us out.”
Drexler said she sees the event, not only as a wonderfully symbolic start to the United Way campaign, but also as an outlet which encourages everyone to help make the community a better place.
“What could be better than spending a beautiful Saturday meeting new people and finally going home with a great sense of accomplishment and pride in our county,” she added.
The Day of Caring “Fill the Cart” collection was also extremely successful, reported O’Connor, and brought in “easily twice as many items” as she expected.
Local businesses including Manpower, Frontier, Unison, NBT and Opportunities for Chenango all participated in the collection effort by gathering up as many personal hygiene items as they possibly could, said O’Connor.
Over 1,200 items were collected in the end, including soaps, shampoos, diapers, toothbrushes and more.
“Personal hygiene products are something that area food banks and distribution centers never have enough of,” stated O’Connor. “Our goal this year was to fill 2 full-size shopping carts and by the time we were finished we had 4 full-sized carts and then some.”
The Manpower team then divvied up the products and distributed them across the county as its Day of Caring project, she added.
At The Place, the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization held its first ever “Big for a Day” program, in collaboration with the Day of Caring event, in an effort to aid in recruiting efforts for local mentors.
“We had some real naturals in terms of mentoring and it was nice to see community members jumping into the concept with both feet,” said BBBS Director Kobie Decker. “Showing the volunteers that you can have a lot of fun at low to no cost, with only a little time, is really what we’re all about.”
Other participants included the Purple Tornado Cheerleading Squad and the Student Philanthropy Council of the Upstate Institute at Colgate University, who volunteered at the Chenango County Council of the Arts and the Wolf Mountain Nature Center respectively.
“To be able to participate in the United Way’s Day of Caring meant that the students had a chance, not only to work with a local non-profit, but also to work alongside members of the community,” stated Colgate University Team Leader for the Wolf Mountain Nature Center. “It enhanced their knowledge and experience with the region while contributing and helping a local organization.”
The Chenango United Way has set a goal of $435,000 for its 2011 campaign, which will run through the end of this year. For more information call 334-8815 or visit www.chenangouw.org.