Day of Caring
Changes in atmospheric conditions are often cause for concern this time of year, but it was the welcome winds of change that blew through the Lowcountry on Monday thanks to Trident United Way’s sixth annual Day of Caring community service blitz. The kickoff breakfast, held at Trident Tech’s sparkling new culinary center, was brimming with orange juice and pep-rally energy. Prior to the opening remarks, a touching tribute to the victims of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001, played on 13 projection screens around the room. That year, 700 people participated in 50 projects. This year, 5,000 volunteers swept through 270 community service projects. To date, 18,000 people have contributed 100,000 manpower hours and $4 million in goods and services with Trident United Way’s Day of Caring.
Vanessa Hill, host of the television program Success Before Six, facilitated the morning’s festivities, sharing the stage with Chris Kerrigan (president, Trident United Way), Day of Caring Chairman Lonnie Carter (Santee Cooper), and TUW 2006 Campaign Chair David Dunlap (CEO, Roper St. Francis Healthcare). Toward the end of the program, the goal for the upcoming year of fundraising was announced: $8 million dollars.
I caught up with several teams at various project locations across the peninsula. First stop was St. Andrew’s church on Wentworth Street, where clothing was sorted for Tricounty Family Ministries by representatives from the InterTech Group, including Anita and Jerry Zucker, Jennifer Yaun, Jacquetta Devine, Brice Sweatt, Francine Reed, and Tiffany McCain.
Over at the Ronald McDonald House on Gadsden Street, I met several able-bodied gentlemen from JW Aluminum: Anthony McDaniel, Mike Mizzell, Mark Stickland, Jeff Thompson, John Wilkinson, and Chris Lane. They installed a new fence and finished in time to clown around with the statue of the home’s flame-hair namesake. Inside, a group from the Charleston Passport Center executed a massive letter mailing campaign on behalf of the organization.
On the other side of the Crosstown, several groups lent a hand to the beautification of Mitchell Elementary School. There, I encountered familiar faces and quickly learned that the staff of the Dee Norton Lowcountry Children’s Center had enlisted to help paint the school’s exterior fence. How about that—a nonprofit giving back to the community in more than one way! By the time I arrived, Beverly Hutchison and Kathleen Flynn were scrubbing paint drips from the legs because their team had finished in record time.
To learn more about the agencies and programs sponsored by the Trident United Way, please visit their site: http://www.tuw.org.
Caritas.
Ida
