Day of Caring

The concept of Day of Caring was created at a Regional Association of United Ways meeting which included Allegheny, Butler, Greene and Washington Counties, plus Mon Valley in Pennsylvania; Marion, Monongalia and Harrison Counties in West Virginia and the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley which covered Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel Counties in West Virginia and Belmont County in Ohio.

For years each United Way held their campaign kickoffs at different times. This group decided they could avoid confusion and attract more public attention by launching their fund drives on the same day. To make the opening day even more significant, local companies were asked to loan employees to provide time and energy for community service projects in each community.

The first Day of Caring was held September 11, 1991. Here in the Upper Ohio Valley we had 6 social service agencies and 60 volunteers participating. The job list that year included general cleaning and painting.

In the Upper Ohio Valley we continue to kickoff our annual campaign with the Day of Caring.  In 2009 24 social service agencies and 400 volunteers participated in a wide variety of jobs.