ALLENTOWN, Pa. – It’s the 32nd annual Day of Caring. 1,500 volunteers spent the day rolling up their sleeves, tackling projects at 60 nonprofits across the Valley.
“It is the largest single volunteer event in the Lehigh Valley of the entire year,” Marci Lesko, CEO, of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley explains.
At the River Crossing YMCA, volunteers built bunk beds for the warming station, opening weeks earlier than usual.
“This project was chosen specifically because we are opening our warming station early,” Tami Unger, Branch Director of the Allentown River Crossing YMCA said. “So without the help of the team from Senator Coleman’s office, Butz Construction and the United Way we would have never gotten the bunks ready to open in just a week and a half.”
Brianna Moyer, volunteer from Alvin H. Butz Inc. says, “Personally it’s extremely fulfilling to get to work on projects like this it’s exciting to be for a company that promotes initiatives like this.”
Meanwhile, at the Sixth Street Shelter, PPL volunteers cleaned and organized apartments and spaces for families.
“It is really inspiring and it’s positive for our team. It’s team building for us, but it’s more than that,” Heidi Konynenbelt, volunteer with PPL says. “It’s meaningful. It’s good for our hearts.”
Tjwana Reed, the Director of the Sixth Street Shelter says, “For them to come and just take their time to clean up, make sure it’s beautiful, it’s impactful. They just don’t understand how much we need them.”
United Way says the work done in just one day adds up to nearly $300,000 worth of service in just one day.
“We’re about bringing people together to solve problems and to do good work together and to do what’s right,” Lesko added.