by Heather MacDonald
Volunteer and Community Engagement Director

This year was my very first Day of Caring and I had a great time! It was amazing to know that 100 companies were coming together to complete over 115 projects in Davis, Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties.

My day started with a radio interview on The Arrow 103.5 and a live TV spot on KSL at The Gateway. The Day of Caring committee had done an excellent job of setting up everything for the breakfast. It was quite a site to see hundreds of volunteers gathered together for French toast from Meier’s Prime Catering and breakfast burritos from Rico’s Mexican Market. We even had coffee, drinks and ice provided by Swire Coca-Cola, Starbucks, the LDS Humanitarian Center and Bagley Ice & Carbonic Inc. Volunteers were even treated to some fun entertainment provided by The Soulistics.

After breakfast volunteers headed out to complete projects at 85 community partners, schools and other organizations. The different projects included things like a career fair for middle school students, reading to elementary aged kids, landscaping, painting, and a variety of projects that enhanced the beauty and usability of various community locations. Over 3,800 volunteers helped to provide service that saved the community more than $615,000 in just one day!

I am so proud to be a part of an organization that helps our community be a better place to live. There is so much that can be done but with support like this I know our community will be able to come together to help those most in need. Thank you to each of the volunteers who helped make Day of Caring 2012 a great success.

Thank you to CHASE, CHG Healthcare Services, The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints Foundation, Clearlink, Hexcel Corporation, Questar, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah, Tesoro and Wells Fargo – Utah for sponsoring our 20th annual Day of Caring.

If you, your family or company would like to volunteer visit uw.org/volunteer or dial 2-1-1.

[slideshow]