Day of Caring  Thursday, September 8, 2011

Regardless of Earthquakes, Hurricanes or Tropical Storms, Day of Caring^sm Got Underway ...

Mother Nature could not stop the United Way of Charles County and its volunteers from coming out and braving the elements for the 17th annual Day of Caring^sm, Thursday, September 8th.  Teams from 13 area businesses and organizations came out to perform at least a half-day of volunteer labor at 11 Partner Agency sites in the Southern Maryland area.  The event has been a September community tradition since 1995.

The day started at 7:30 a.m. with over 75 volunteers filing into the Waldorf Jaycees Community Center for the Day of Caring^sm kick off breakfast.  With a sea of white "LIVE UNITED" tee shirts and appreciation certificates given to the volunteers, the breakfast ended with a standing ovation for Dorothy Harper, President and CEO of United Way of Charles County, as Pam Tolliver of CENG, LLC thanked her for her many years of outstanding service, compassion, kindness and true concern for the community.

Although not all projects went as planned, there were plenty of things to do.  Among the projects accomplished that day were painting walls, cleaning equipment and supplies that clients use, taking inventory, labeling and stuffing envelopes, cutting and preparing itens for children's projects, yard work, light landscaping, mulching and planting as well as cleaning out a hay barn.

The United Way of Charles County would like to acknowledge the following companies, organizations and individuals: Charles County Sheriff's Department, Civista Health, Community Bank of Tri-County, Constellation Energy (CENG, LLC), Kiwanis Club of Waldorf, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, Spring Dell Center, St. Charles Companies, Top Banana Home Delivered Groceries, Wal-Mart LaPlata, The Worship Center, and Cathy Jordan with College of Southern Maryland.  We would also like to thank the Greater Waldorf Jaycees for donating the room and the breakfast that we all enjoyed.

Special thanks to all the volunteers who showed their dedication and true spirit of caring.