Community to Community Action Day Sept. 23

Annual Community to Community Action Day- Day of Caring event will put hundreds of volunteers to work

Day of Caring, the largest annual one-day volunteer event in Thurston County, is this Friday, September 23. Over 500 volunteers from throughout Thurston County, including 150 new students from The Evergreen State College, will be working on 35 projects throughout the county.

Projects include organizing donated books, assembling bags of food, harvesting fall vegetables, helping get farms ready for the winter season, painting homes that houses disabled individuals, lending a hand with a carnival and field day for school kids, and many other activities.

Day of Caring helps local nonprofits by providing an opportunity to get tasks accomplished that would otherwise take time away from their primary purpose of serving their clients. For volunteers, the event is a way to meet new people, work as a team and gain new experiences, while helping improve their community. Day of Caring is also the official kick-off of United Way’s annual fundraising campaign. This year's goal is to raise $1.4 million for local health and human service programs.

“For 19 years, United Way and our partners have been organizing the Day of Caring to support good work right here in Thurston County,” shared Paul Knox, United Way’s Executive Director. “At the end of the day, imagine the impact from those hundreds of volunteers on our community – it’s incredible!”

Day of Caring is generously sponsored by Bron’s Automotive, Heritage Bank, O Bee Credit Union, Olympia Federal Savings, Providence St. Peter Hospital, Target, and TwinStar Credit Union.

The following organizations are participating in Day of Caring this year:

Volunteer Teams

Assoc. of WA School Principals
City of Olympia Public Works Dept.
Employment Security Dept. ESD/ECDD
Engineered Software, Inc.
Executive Assistants Group
Express Employment Professionals
Fred Meyer
Group Health Cooperative
Heritage Bank
Intel Corporation
Intercity Transit
Lacey Sunrise Lions
Lewis-Mason-Thurston Area Agency on Aging
Olympia Federal Savings
Providence St. Peter Hospital
Puget Sound Energy
St. Martin 's University Campus Ministry
State Farm Insurance
Sterling Savings Bank
The Evergreen State College
Thurston County
Thurston County Bar Association
Townsend Security
Tumwater Rotary
TwinStar Credit Union
WA State Dept. of Commerce
WA State Employment Security Dept. / WSID
Youth in Service Americorps
Zonta of South Puget Sound

Project Sites

Books to Prisoners
Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County, Lacey Branch
Boys & Girls Clubs of Thurston County, Tumwater Branch
CIELO
Circle Hawk Farm Family Support Center of South Sound
Fertile Ground
Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB)
Hands On Children's Museum
Heartstrides Therapeutic Riding & Horsemanship Program
Homeless Backpacks
Homes First!
Kokua
Left Foot Organics
Madison Elementary
Monarch Sculpture Park
Morningside / Oly School Dist
POWER
Olympia Kiwanis
ROOF Community Services
Safeplace
Senior Services for South Sound
South Sound Reading Foundation
South Sound YMCA
Stonewall Youth
The Crisis Clinic of Thurston & Mason Counties
Thurston County Food Bank
Thurston County Food Bank - Backpack Program
Thurston County Food Bank Gleaners United Communities AIDS Network (UCAN)
United Way of Thurston County
Woodland Trail Greenway Association
YWCA of Olympia