2009 Days of Caring!

On Saturday, September 12 and Wednesday, September 16, more than 3,200 United Way Days of Caring volunteers became an unstoppable force for good and gathered to strengthen our community. Throughout the region men, women and children dressed in white LIVE UNITED T-shirts were cleaning, painting, building, and hosting events to help local nonprofit agencies.

The United Way Days of Caring program was established to promote the spirit and value of volunteerism, increase the awareness of local human service agencies and schools and demonstrate what people working together for the good of the community can accomplish.

This year’s Days of Caring included 215 different community projects at more than 80 locations across southern Arizona. More than 100 local companies, organizations and federal agencies put together teams of volunteers dedicated to lending a hand.

At one project site, volunteers from the United Way Board of Directors and the United Way Inclusion Council joined forces with senior residents at St. Luke’s Home for maintenance projects that included washing windows, repairing furniture and attending to landscaping needs. While they pruned trees and dug up weeds to get the St. Luke’s grounds in good shape for the coming fall, servicemen and women from Davis Monthan tended to smoky grills and provided mouth-watering barbeque to celebrate Days of Caring volunteerism.

Many other Day of Caring projects were just as meaningful, and the volunteers walked away with a sense of satisfaction knowing they had made a difference or helped brighten someone’s day.

At the “Clean Lot Jack Pot,” the United Way Young Leaders Society with the help of Davis Monthan, University Physicians Healthcare, Stantec, Foothills Rotary Club, Tucson Lions Club and other volunteers, worked tirelessly to clean a large vacant lot on the corner of 36th & Kino, opposite the Quincie Douglas Library. This project was requested by the Kino Youth Advisory who was concerned about the danger the vacant lot filled with crime and debris, and located between the library and a school, presents to local youth.

“It was incredible how much improvement was made in a few short hours,” said volunteer Daniel Schmidt. “I feel like we made a real difference today for the safety of our community’s youth.”

This activity was also family-friendly. In the school across from the lot, children created ornaments for the Ben’s Bell project. Ben's Bells project begun in 2003 by a Tucson couple who wanted to honor their son — who died of croup just before his third birthday — and encourage the kindness shown them in their time of loss.

People all across southern Arizona will see and feel the impact of the thousands of volunteers mobilized through the United Way Days of Caring. In total, Days of Caring volunteers logged 2,632 hours of community service on Saturday and Wednesday for more than 80 local nonprofit organizations. Thank you to all who lent a hand to help us build a better community in southern Arizona!

Congratulations to Juliet Miller, United Way of Tucson's marketing project assistant and our Shining Star for the month of September!

UWTSA simply could not survive without Juliet (J-Dog to her co-workers). She juggles more marketing tasks than there are flavors of ice cream. Her tasks include managing our media relations, tracking all things financial in the marketing department and designing campaign materials for the Employees Combined Appeal Program (ECAP).

She is also the personal assistant for Dan, our trusty Senior Vice President of External Relations, and he keeps her very busy. Juliet serves on the Fest! Committee and was a part of the Constituent Resource Management (CRM) team.

J-Dog is always willing to lend a helping hand. She frequently takes shifts at the front desk and has assisted both the finance and resource department on many projects. Her generosity and warm spirit has made UWTSA a more pleasant place to work and we are all so very grateful to have her on our team.

Congrats, Juliet!

Countdown to United Way Days of Caring

Things are definitely getting busy around the office because we are only three days from the start of 2009 United Way Days of Caring (DOC). By this time next week, southern Arizona will be filled with people wearing our LIVE UNITED t-shirts.

What is Days of Caring?

On Saturday, September 12 and Wednesday, September 16, more than 2,900 volunteers from local businesses and organizations will demonstrate their commitment to our community by taking part in the 2009 DOC program.

During DOC, volunteer teams from more than 100 companies and organizations will work at local nonprofit agencies and public schools to tackle 180 projects that will make a lasting impact on the lives of children, families and seniors in our community. Local companies will showcase their volunteer spirit, completing projects such as painting murals, landscaping a garden and packing emergency food boxes.

These volunteers, like all who support United Way, have a direct positive impact on life in southern Arizona, now and in the future. DOC is at the heart of connecting hundreds of volunteers to local nonprofit organizations. There are so many worthwhile projects that are going to be completed during this year's DOC, here are just a few of them:

SATURDAY, Sept. 12:
8:00 a.m. — 2:00 p.m. St. Luke's Home (615 E. Adams, Tucson AZ): Volunteers from the UWTSA board of directors, community advisory board and inclusion council will join senior residents at St. Luke’s for volunteer projects including washing windows and attending to landscaping needs such as raking and pruning trees.

12:00 p.m. — 4:00 p.m. Jim Click Boys and Girls Club (1935 S. Columbus Blvd, Tucson AZ): Volunteers from Bank of America will be having fun and spending time with the members and staff at the Jim and Vicki Click Boys and Girls Clubhouse. Project was coordinated by the 29th Street Coalition Weed and Seed.

12:00 p.m. — 4:00 p.m. Arizona's Children Association (3210 E. Ft. Lowell, Suite 105Tucson, AZ): Volunteers from Tucson Newspapers will be painting the North Central Office.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 16:
9:00 a.m. — 4:00 p.m. Ben's Bells (816 E. University Blvd.): Volunteers from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, IBM and Geico will help craft the pieces for Ben's Bells and assist with other miscellaneous tasks around the Ben's Bells studio.

9:00 a.m. — 3:30 p.m. Community Food Bank (3003 South Country Club Road, Tucson AZ): Volunteers from IBM will be completing numerous projects including food drive sign making, food boxes, painting and much more.

9:30 a.m. — 2:30 p.m. Catalina Council Boy Scouts (Organization Ridge Road, Mount Lemmon, AZ): Volunteers from IBM will be painting outside buildings and doing trail maintenance at Camp Lawton.

Another fun volunteer project is taking place on Wednesday at the 4-H High Ropes Course. Volunteers will be helping to create a natural habitat for kids, wildlife and the community. DOC volunteers will create basins, berms and swales to harvest rainwater. They will also plant native desert trees and wildflowers and construct a kiosk for signage.

If you see a group of volunteers sporting LIVE UNITED t-shirts working hard on DOC projects, be sure to honk your horn and say hello!

School Supply Drive!!!

Back by popular demand, the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona’s school supply drive for early childhood education is now available all year! Originally a project of United Way’s annual community-wide volunteer event, Days of Caring, the response and generosity of Southern Arizona organizations was so overwhelming that United Way has opened up the drive as an ongoing event. This school supply drive uniquely supports our community’s youngest: children from birth to age five. This developmental period is the time when 90 percent of a child’s brain is formed, but conversely, less than five percent of public investments in education and development occur during the same period. Cuts to Arizona Department of Economic Security, coupled with an unstable economic climate, have further weakened area early child care centers and homes, and many are unable to afford the basic supplies needed to stimulate young children and lay the groundwork for all future learning. By holding a school supply drive, an organization fosters team-building and helps ensure that more local children are entering kindergarten with the tools they need to learn and succeed.

The United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona school supply drive will benefit child care sites that serve low-income children and have made a commitment to quality improvement and transparency by taking part in Quality First, a First Things First funded initiative administered by United Way and Partners. Centers and homes enrolled in Quality First receive coaching services designed to improve the quality of their sites in several areas including their environments, programs and staff qualifications. The centers and homes also agree to be rated on a 5-star quality rating scale that will be made public to help parents make informed decisions about child care.

If interested in partnering with United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona to hold an early education school supply drive, please contact Daniel Schmidt at 520-903-3947 or dschmidt@unitedwaytucson.org.

If interested in learning more about United Way’s programs supporting early education including health, literacy, and family support, please contact Early Education Director Paula Trubisky at 520-903-3944 or ptrubisky@unitedwaytucson.org.