Courtesy photo.
SANTA BARBARA — Whether it was gardening, painting or maintenance, nearly 1,000 volunteers made the South Coast shine brighter during United Way of Santa Barbara County’s (UWSBC) 28th Annual Day of Caring on Saturday.
Teams, friends, families and individual volunteers all came together to carry out 58 community service projects as part of the largest, single-day volunteer event in the tri-counties 9 a.m. to noon. Projects included cleaning classrooms at Isla Vista Youth Projects, planting and mulching at Dos Pueblos High School, campus beautification at Harding Elementary School and Goleta Valley Junior High School, and many others at over 30 agency sites. In all, volunteer hours at community organizations served are estimated to have been worth $300,000.
“Day of Caring is always memorable because, in just a few short hours, you see tangible results from your efforts and can see how needed this work is for our community organizations,” said Steve Ortiz, United Way of Santa Barbara County CEO. “I could see in the eyes of our volunteers just how proud they were of all they were able to accomplish together for the community.”
The day ended with a Thank-You BBQ for participants at Oak Park, with lunch sponsored by Albertsons/Vons.
Day of Caring is part of a nationwide effort to support community organizations by connecting thousands of volunteers with beautification and improvement projects that otherwise might not be completed.
Day of Caring 2019 Title sponsors: Albertsons/Vons, Cox Communications, and Exxon Mobil; Cornerstone sponsors: Cottage Health, Karl Storz Imaging, LogMeIn, Pacific Coast Business Times, Procore, Santa Barbara Independent, and Montecito Bank & Trust; Pillar sponsor Santa Barbara News-Press and Stonefire Grill; and Building Block sponsors Crushcakes, Bobbi and Paul Didier, and La Arcada.
United Way of Santa Barbara County: United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) has the unique and positive vision that “in our community, everyone has a hopeful future.” Since 1923, UWSBC has served Santa Barbara County community through funding, volunteer development, and by utilizing its own unique initiatives that involve dozens of local non-profit and public sector agencies. UWSBC’s local community driven Power of Partnership™ priorities help children, families & seniors with a focus on Education, Income and Health.