It's a new adventure this year for the United Way of the Quad Cities, a Day of Caring focused solely on education. This is set to go along with all the other volunteer efforts the organization puts on in the area.
Each year, the offices in Davenport are flooded with volunteers by the thousands looking to help out wherever they can, and Thursday, a focus on education is giving all those people a great opportunity to jump in.
The group does a yearly Day of Caring to help out in many different areas, but this is the first ever education-focused Day of Caring. A notice for volunteers for this event went out earlier this year, hoping to get about 250 people. The response was more than they expected, getting more than 300 people signed up to help out with 27 different projects throughout the Quad Cities. The education Day of Caring has volunteers reading to students, helping with tutoring and even working on some landscaping projects.
"As the volunteer, it shows them a side of the community that they haven't seen before. It might've been awhile since they've worked with children on reading and really seeing how something as simple as reading can mean a big deal," United Way of the Quad Cities President Scott Crane said.
The goal of these events is to expand the opportunities for people in the community to get involved.
"It's gratifying to see the response that we've seen so far, but it's not surprising. This is a very generous community with their finances, and it's a generous community with their time," Crane said.
There are still two more smaller Days of Caring this year, one in June focused on health and another in November focused on income. The bigger Day of Caring is scheduled for September.
For more information about those dates, visit the United Way of the Quad Cities website.