Just as in 2019, the last time the United Way of Indian River County was able to bring the community together for its Day of Caring event, a beautiful rainbow presented itself as volunteers gathered at the Vero Beach High School Citrus Bowl before heading off across the county to work on projects to help others.
“The best part of Day of Caring is realizing that you’re part of this bigger story. You’re part of this bigger community,” said Meredith Egan, UWIRC CEO. “You are about to go out and join hands with about 1,000 volunteers across the community at over 55 projects.”
Teams and individuals had registered for tasks such as painting, gardening, cleaning, mulching, landscaping and even clerical work, helping out at nonprofits, schools and the homes of people in need.
“Just think about the impact that just a few hours of your day is going to have on the nonprofits and the people that they serve across our town,” said Egan.
She thanked Maryann and Joe Conrado and Jeremy Odom, owners of the local McDonald’s, who once again donated a hearty breakfast for everyone, the school district for providing the kickoff venue, and Publix, the Day of Caring presenting sponsor.
“Publix is doing this across seven states. They have such a huge impact on our community, but also our region. So we love Publix every day, but especially today,” said Egan.
“As you all know, Indian River County is so special, and we’re so proud of it. Every one of us is part of something bigger than ourselves.”
A video was shown on the Jumbotron that focused on meeting challenges by working together to support, transform and create change, so that everyone can Live United.
“So what does it mean to Live United?” asked Egan. “It means to join hands with your friends, your neighbors, create partnerships across the community. The work that we do is not done alone. There are a lot of funded partners here that are helping direct clients. We’ve got sponsors and businesses all over that we join partnerships with,” said Egan.
“When crisis happens across our community, we know that collaborations are what makes change happen. And when Hurricane Ian hit, you saw the images coming from the West Coast, and we all know that it could have been us. We could have definitely not been standing here right now doing Day of Caring with the sun shining. We’d be doing much more work; a lot harder work,” she said.
“So we are keeping our sister communities across the state in mind, because they are going to be rebuilding and recovering for a very long time.”
School Superintendent David Moore said that trucks filled with supplies donated at schools throughout the district would soon be driven over to the West Coast to three schools that were devastated by the hurricane.
“We’re going to take it from your hands to their hands directly,” said Moore.
Before everyone left the stadium, TBLB Fitness provided some warmup drills, and the Vero Beach High School cheerleaders gave a rousing cheer to Live United!
For more information, visit UnitedWayIRC.org.
Photos provided
