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By Julianne Stanford, AZPM Intern
It’s not too late to sign up to volunteer in the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona’s annual large-scale community service event, Days of Caring.
“Days of Caring is basically our time of year where we try to get the community involved,” Manager of Events Meredith Bode said. “We ask non-profits, schools, childcare centers to submit projects they need volunteers to help with and we recruit volunteers to help with those projects.”
Projects will be completed next week, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and Saturday, Nov. 9.
Volunteers will assist in cleaning up areas of the city, painting buildings, gardening and yard work, organizing offices and classrooms, and sorting and distributing food, clothes and used books to those in need.
IBM is one of the many businesses partnering with the organization. This year, the company is sending over 300 volunteers to work on 18 projects.
“It is a point of pride for IMBers to give back to the community in which they live and work,” the company’s Corporate Citizenship Coordinator Kathy Carlisle said.
“It’s just an incredible impact in a two-day span,” Bode said. “We’re really able to help a lot of people and different agencies all throughout Southern Arizona, not just one, and in a big way.”
United Way Spokesman Elliot Ledley says this year will be no exception, but they organization still needs more help.
“We are excited for the 16th year, and we still need do need more than 500 volunteers to complete all of our partner’s projects this year,” he said.
For more information about the Days of Caring, or if you wish to volunteer, visit the organizations’ website. The deadline to sign up is Wednesday, Oct. 28.
Julianne Stanford is a University of Arizona journalism student and an intern for Arizona Public Media.
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