Volunteers attack several cities in Fort Smith metro area

story and photos by Linda Kaufenberg

Held April 16, the 16th United Way Day of Caring was a community-wide event benefiting non-profits in the Fort Smith Area (Crawford, Franklin, Logan, Sebastian and Sequoyah counties). Each year, Day of Caring unites generous, community-focused people under the common mission of creating lasting change in the lives of children, families and seniors, in the area.

The day started in Fort Smith at Golden Corral with a breakfast for more than 300 volunteers. A breakfast was also held in Booneville and Ozark with lunches at Ozark and Sallisaw. A total of more than 500 volunteers participated this year as they sported their navy and white United Way shirts and jumped into the projects.

Originally held in August, this was the third year for the day to be help in April, National Volunteer Month.

Day of Caring volunteer teams from local companies, families and individuals worked to complete more than 70 projects for United Way’s community partners who lack the necessary resources and manpower to tackle the projects. These projects range from reading to children, painting a room to engaging in outdoor activities such as landscaping or washing windows.

“Day of Caring is a big opportunity for us to engage and educate people who don’t know a lot about us,” said Bill Loyd, executive director of Abilities Unlimited. “It provides us with the expertise to do some projects we are unable to do on our own. With 10 volunteers, we can usually finish a project in a day. There have been some projects that we have continued from one Day of Caring to the next year.”