(Shreveport, LA) – On Wednesday, May 24, roughly 800 volunteers attended United Way of Northwest Louisiana’s (UWNWLA) annual Day of Caring, sponsored in part by Chesapeake Energy, CareSouth, Brookshire’s, Horseshoe Bossier City, SB Magazine, Healthy Blue of Louisiana, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Sam’s Town Hotel & Casino, Fox Search Group, and Frymaster. Day of Caring is one of the largest single-day, community-wide volunteer events in Northwest Louisiana. This year, volunteers from more than 50 local businesses and 12 local nonprofits rallied to make an impact across Shreveport-Bossier.
During Day of Caring, a team of volunteers are partnered with a nonprofit agency to complete a project for a nonprofit that may not have the financial resources or manpower to hire outside help to achieve. For Day of Caring 2023: Volunteer for the Gold, UWNWLA coordinated 27 projects submitted by nonprofit agencies for volunteers to complete. In addition, the organization added several projects of its own; approximately 1,500 essential needs kits were assembled for future hurricane evacuees, six communities were cleaned, five Born Learning Trails were installed (educational and active outdoor games designed to boost children’s language and literacy development), and two community gardens were maintained.
The event kicked off with a pep rally breakfast at the Bossier City Civic Center, where volunteers gathered to learn more about the impact they were making, showed their volunteer spirit by performing team chants, and enjoyed beats from Huntington High School and Caddo Heights Math/Science Elementary drumlines. From there, volunteers dispersed across Shreveport-Bossier to complete projects for our community’s nonprofits, such as LifeShare, Geaux 4 Kids, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and more. These projects were coordinated based on the nonprofit agency’s greatest need and ranged from painting facilities, washing vehicles, organizing warehouses, assembling bags of clothing and necessities for children in foster care, beautifying gardens, and encouraging blood donations. Volunteers also had the opportunity to give blood through LifeShare at the Day of Caring breakfast, and through their donations and encouragement of donations at Walmart Supercenters, 40 units of blood were collected for those in need, exceeding UWNWLA’s goal of 20 units.
“Our volunteers’ commitment to making positive differences in the lives of others is truly inspiring,” said LaToria W. Thomas, UWNWLA President & CEO. “They embraced the tasks with passion and dedication, making a lasting impact on our community and reminding us all of the power of collective action. On behalf of our board, staff, and the community we serve, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to our volunteers for their unwavering dedication and the tremendous difference they have made.” Thanks to Day of Caring volunteers, the Shreveport-Bossier nonprofit community saved more than $67,000 in labor costs within three hours of service work.
Once volunteers completed their projects, they returned to the Bossier City Civic Center to celebrate their accomplishments. The afterparty featured music and karaoke by Treetop Entertainment, games, raffle prizes, lunch provided by UWNWLA and community partners, and the announcement of the 2023 Day of Caring Spirit Award winner. The Spirit Award is given to the volunteer team who showed the most volunteer spirit by dressing up, participating in spirit games, showing their impact on social media, and overall, increasing morale and energy to foster love and excitement around volunteering. The volunteer team to take home this award for the second year in a row was AEP SWEPCO & IBEW Local 329.
UWNWLA is proud to have partnered with local nonprofits for another successful year of giving back to our community by creating excitement around volunteerism and teaching the importance of it.
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