HOLLAND, MI (WHTC) – Over 600 volunteers worked together in teams to help local nonprofit organizations on the Greater Ottawa County of United Way 16th annual Day of Caring, Thursday, September 15.
Over 50 projects included yard work, landscaping, painting, removing invasive species, sorting, cleaning and more.
Director of Volunteerism Shannon LaHaie spoke at a luncheon to the media partners and said it’s been a great year so far in that they usually have more volunteers than projects throughout the year. In total more than 8,228 volunteers gave their time through the volunteer campaign through United Way.
“The State of Michigan values the hours of volunteerism at $22.96 per hour. So when you total those through United Way, volunteers gave about 143,000 hours of service which is valued at more than $3.2 million dollars ” Lahaie said.
Campaigns such as Stuff the Bus were a great success. Each year the program has grown with $25,000 in school supplies donated this year and every child who applied for a backpack received one. It’s the first time they have filled the need 100%.
On Wednesday Greater Ottawa Counties Day of Caring volunteers worked on 60 different projects and their work leveraged over $106,000 dollars in labor support by the end day. Lahaie went on to say that the day is inspiring. “So many people spend their day helping those organizations who dedicated themselves to helping others year round. This day is a huge benefit to our non-profit organizations, and it’s a lot of fun for our volunteers.”
