Packs of people in yellow shirts are seen throughout the Lehigh Valley Tuesday.

Their mission? Some elbow grease with a side of caring.

It’s all part of the 33rd United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley’s Day of Caring.

“We will have 1700 volunteers from 70 companies at 76 different sites and nonprofit organizations all across Lehigh, Carbon, and Northampton counties,” said Laura McHugh, chief engagement officer with the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

It’s the first year this event has been broken up into two days with volunteers taking action on Tuesday and Thursday.

“It’s our responsibility to get back out and do something to help lift others up in our community,” said Orville Trout, the executive vice president of human resources at Crayola.

Presented by Crayola, a crew from the company was tasked with beautifying an outdoor space at Paxinosa Elementary, while others worked with tools they’re pretty familiar with inside.

“My task, I’m going to be doing a little painting,” Trout added.

Creating and fixing up murals: you can say they’re passion projects.

“It’s one of my favorite days of the year,” said longtime volunteer, Elaine Veldez.

Bridging the gap between organizations, these events allow the volunteers to handle some tasks on to-do lists, such as cleaning up the garden bed at Cheston Elementary.

“All of these little projects that build up over time, taking that off of their plates, allows them to be more effective in what they do for the kids,” said Amy Bucher, the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley Campaign Chair.

While the projects wrap up on Thursday, it’s only igniting the spark for giving back all year long with the United Way.

“8800 hours are being volunteered with just these two days so if all of us does a little bit, boy we can have a big impact on the valley,” explained Rick Bucher, the president and CEO of Victaulic and also the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley Campaign Chair.

United Way officials say despite the heavy to-do list for day of caring, they’ve topped out in volunteers for Tuesday and Thursday’s events.

However, they are always in need of donations and volunteers all year long.

TOUR SCHEDULE – TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15:

Weather permitting, interviews are available at all locations. All times and locations are tentative. Photos and videos available upon request.

7:45 – 8:30 a.m.           Crayola

Location: Paxinosa Elementary School

Address: 1221 Northampton Street, Easton

Project Description: Brightening school hallways

9:45 – 10:30 a.m.             Victaulic

Location: Cheston Elementary School

Address: 723 Coal Street, Easton

Project Description: Decorating school classrooms, flower bed clean up

 11:05 – 11:45 a.m.          HNL Lab Medicine

Location: South Mountain Middle School

Address: 70 W Emmaus Ave, Allentown

Project Description: School beautification and outdoor space creation

12:00 – 12:30 p.m.             City Center Group

Location: Central Elementary STREAM Academy

Address: 826 W Turner Street, Allentown

Project Description: Cleaning the school grounds, organizing donation closets and cleaning windows.

12:50 – 1:30 p.m.          B. Braun Medical Inc.

Location: Calypso Elementary School

Address: 1021 Calypso Ave, Bethlehem

Project Description: Cleanup of school grounds

For additional information, people can visit www.UnitedWayGLV.org.