United Way of Northwest Indiana relaunched two major volunteer efforts Friday, beginning with 600 volunteers at 80 sites for the Day of Caring.
Their contact information is being used to restart the Volunteer Resource Center as well, CEO Chris White said.
“This is the rebuilding of the United Way,” White told volunteers at a breakfast kickoff at Avalon Manor. “This is an announcement that we are back. We are the region’s United Way.”
United Way is about building connections and creating healthy communities, he said. “Before you leave today, meet somebody new,” he urged.
Pierogi Fest and other events wouldn’t happen without volunteers, Whiting Councilman Mark Harbin said. He called volunteers “the heart and soul of the community.”
“Northwest Indiana is really at its best when we act in abundance,” Northwest Indiana Forum President and CEO Heather Ennis said.
More than half of the Calumet Township trustee’s office workers volunteered, Trustee Tai Adkins said.
Getting volunteers reenergized is important to White. “We’re bringing people together to solve unsolvable problems,” he said.
Day of Caring has been on hiatus since 2022. “We wanted to bring it back with real work projects, real viable things,” White said. “Where there was a need, we tried to help.”
That included projects across Lake, Porter, Jasper and Newton counties. Day of Caring was started as a United Way of Porter County effort and focused primarily on Porter County sites. Since the merger with Lake Area United Way, the effort spread. Friday was the 29th Day of Caring, White said.
In recent years, the United Way chapter has focused on its Level Up program to lift people out of poverty. That effort, which has helped hundreds already, will continue, he said.
In Northwest Indiana, a single person needs to earn more than $30,000 a year to afford a decent apartment. For a family of four, it’s $79,000 in Lake County and $81,000 in Porter County, he said.
Increasing earning potential for the working poor is crucial. But so is ensuring child care is available.
“The No. 1 thing that’s keeping people out of the workforce is child care,” White said. “Quality childcare is as expensive as Purdue’s tuition.”
White said increasing the capacity for responding to disasters is also important, promising United Way will help the region become much better prepared to respond.
At the Boys & Girls Club in Valparaiso, Tri Kappa member Amy Yuko brought her 9-year-old
twins, Sierra and Bodey, to volunteer alongside her. “Kids like to help out. They really do,” Amy said.
“At first, I thought they didn’t really know what they were getting into,” she said, but they enjoyed serving food and helping lead the kids in games for an end-of-summer party.
“We saw some keys they knew so it’s always fun to see them in a different setting.”
Fellow Tri Kappa member Kaye Frataccia-Seibert volunteered there as well. She wouldn’t miss it, having volunteered at each of the 29 Day of Caring events.
“People around me, they all say they’re so glad it’s back,” said Frataccia-Seibert, who also serves on the Valparaiso School Board.
“It’s so exciting to see the reach through all the communities,” she said, and to see volunteers of all ages.
At the Art Barn in Jackson Township, volunteers from NIPSCO were working alongside staff to paint a fence, hang mural tiles and weed monarch gardens, Executive Director Amy Davis Navardauskas said while taking a break from the paintbrush.
“Volunteerism is an amazing thing for us,” she said. With 69 acres to take care of, “the to-do list is very long.”
NIPSCO Public Affairs and Economic Development Manager Katie Eason said the Art Barn is one of two sites where the company’s employees volunteered. About a dozen others were helping with a cookout at the Boys & Girls Club in Gary.
“We started with a dingy fence, and now we have a bright red one,” she said.
At Tradewinds, volunteers from Korellis Roofing were running carnival games. “I always wanted to give back to the community as much as I can,” Karen Knezic said. “It’s important to give back.”
“I think they’re having a lot of fun,” she said as she ran a hallway bowling game.
“They’re excited. They really enjoy playing games,” Tammy Silwa, of Cedar Lake, said.
“I’ve done a lot of volunteering over the years,” Tessa Anderson, of Hobart said as she helped a Tradewinds client with ring toss and ladder ball games. “Some of them get more excited than I even hoped for.”
Now that Day of Caring is back, Frataccia-Seibert said she hoped even more organizations will know to ask for help with projects next year.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
