Although it was rainy and dreary this morning, we still forged ahead with our annual Fall Day of Caring – with some projects starting at 6 am! The turnout was fantastic – 749 volunteers showed up to power through the nasty weather and give back to our community.
Volunteers signed up for Fall Day of Caring as individuals and employees of local companies like ABC Home & Commercial Services, Austin American-Statesmen, Freescale, and Dell, and spread out across 20+ projects. Projects included several beautification projects, an Empty Bowl project at Garza High School, financial kit distribution, and Disaster Response Training + more. Over the course of the day, volunteers completed 2,622 hours of service – giving a total of $57,123 in donated labor costs!
To conclude the day, we hosted a Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at The Long Center, where volunteers got to kick back and listen to some great local music.
Special thanks to Freescale for being our Premiere Sponsor and to Austin Coca-Cola for donating beverages to keep our volunteers hydrated!
View additional photos from the event!
Below is some initial feedback from participants of Fall Day of Caring. Please feel free to leave additional feedback in the comment fields below.
ABC Home & Commercial wrote about their time at Open Door Preschool:
- “Great team building experience. The Open Door folks were fantastic and very appreciative. Enjoyed working with them.” – Bobby Jenkins
- “I volunteered with the Open Door Preschool along with the ABC Home & Commercial Company. I was amazed how fast we were able to get our tasks accomplished. They had an amazing group of people, and we were able to complete all projects and the list of optional projects well before the deadline. I also had the chance to speak with the director of the school and some staff regarding their work at this location. It was an AMAZING experience!” – HOCT Community Volunteer, Dana Bell
Best Buy employees wrote the following about their time in Disaster Response Training:
- “Disaster Response training was really important to better understand how many needs there are out there. The awareness and learning about how the call center is helping our community.”
- “Days of Caring are GREAT! If more was available to spend time in big groups to volunteer that would be great!!” “Very informative! Presentation gave good insight to program and what is done. Spending time listening to calls was VERY effective and brought program to life.”
- “We have a pretty great relationship with United Way and I feel we are given great opportunity to donate.” “Arnold at the call center is great. He has such a soothing voice and I feel he is a great asset. The information provided is valuable and the people we helped were thankful.”