Volunteers serve Elgin agencies, schools for Day of Caring

About 120 volunteers from various local businesses participated Friday in United Way of Elgin's 20th Day of Caring.

What used to be an annual event resumed after a five-year hiatus. This year featured beautification projects at nine Elgin-area health and human services agencies and activities at three Elgin Area School District U-46 elementary schools.

It kicked off with a morning rally at Larkin High School in Elgin that included coffee and doughnuts and brief remarks from United Way of Elgin board members, who also delivered boxed lunches to each project site.

"We set out to just kind of do a scaled-back version of the massive ones we used to do because we haven't done it in a while," said Elissa Kojzarek, United Way of Elgin director of marketing. "We had a lot of new volunteers this year ... (for) more than half this was their first Day of Caring event."

Volunteers provided services at the Association for Individual Development, Boys & Girls Club of Elgin, Easter Seals DuPage & Fox Valley Region, Ecker Center for Mental Health, Family Service Association, Food for Greater Elgin, Northern Illinois Food Bank, PADS of Elgin, Well Child Center, and Elgin's Highland, Ronald D. O'Neal and Harriet Gifford elementary schools.

They painted conference rooms and client areas, cleaned, did landscaping, site beautification, planting and weeding.

"We had one group at Gifford Elementary that was doing a mobile food pantry with the Northern Illinois Food Bank," Kojzarek said. "The volunteers really enjoyed their projects."

At Highland Elementary, volunteers from Chase Bank did gardening work, including planting new trees and creating a new bed featuring plants native to northern Illinois.

"Highland has a beautiful school campus with many mature trees," Principal Steve Johnson said. "We are excited for the United Way volunteers to assist in adding additional plants and trees so that current and future students can enjoy a pleasant place to learn."

Volunteers from the YWCA Teen Reach program painted games, including hopscotch, a number jungle, shoots and ladders, and a maze, on the blacktop where students play during recess at Ronald D. O'Neal Elementary.

"At O'Neal, we believe that when children have access to outside activities, they can develop socially and emotionally, as well as physically," Principal Marcie Marzullo said, adding the games allowed students "to engage in collaborative, cardiovascular, and curricular fun."