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With it being the first ever United Way Day of Caring in Carbon County, it was a pretty big deal and volunteers were excited to get started on four community service projects in the region.
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate with the inaugural event, and it rained on much of the volunteers’ plans.
But, Jill Pereira, vice president of education and impact for the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, said that didn’t stop the dozen or so people signed up for the work to give up.
Outdoor projects had to be scrapped, but they all gathered together for an indoor project to deep clean the kitchen at the Jim Thorpe Memorial Hall, where there was plenty of work to do.
“There was lots of rolling up the sleeves and getting into the cleaning,” Pereira said.
Volunteers from First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union, Lehigh Valley Health Network, and Split Rock Resort all participated in the project.
Pereira said that while this was the first Day of Caring event in Carbon, the United Way has been hosting Day of Caring events for corporate volunteers in Lehigh and Northampton counties for 27 years.
Day of Caring brings volunteers from the area’s corporations for a day of service at nearby community service organizations.
Projects can range from landscaping work and rearranging food pantries to visiting the elderly.
The United Way of Carbon County merged with the Lehigh Valley United Way three years ago.
“It took some time to learn the landscape and to build relationships with the region’s businesses and nonprofits,” Pereira said. “But now that we have started, based on the interest, we know we’ll be looking at a bigger and better one next year.”