A day of service can be measured in hours, but two projects in Sheboygan County made it visible in familiar things: placemats with hopeful messages and casseroles prepared in a community kitchen. United Way of Sheboygan County says both were part of its Sept. 24 Day of Caring, which brought 1,400 volunteers to 68 projects at 42 locations. Students, older adults, company teams and nonprofit partners each found a way to contribute.
At Sheridan Elementary, children worked with their reading buddies to make colorful placemats carrying encouraging messages. United Way said the school was taking part for a second year. In its Oct. 1 account, the organization said the placemats would be laminated and presented to Fresh Meals on Wheels of Sheboygan County, the Salvation Army and the Sheboygan County Warming Center during an all-school assembly planned for early October. The report described that handoff as upcoming; it did not confirm that the assembly had taken place.
The project offered students a practical way to connect reading and creativity with a community need. The finished mats were intended for organizations serving people locally, while the school assembly was planned as a chance to share the work with the wider school community. The source does not say how many placemats students made, so no total is attached to the project.
At Sheboygan Senior Community, residents gathered in the kitchen in the event’s bright yellow shirts and made casseroles for people in need, according to United Way. The group’s participation showed a different shape of service from outdoor work or construction: a project that could be completed around a counter by people contributing time and experience where they live.
The event’s age range extended well beyond those two projects. In an Oct. 7 interview with Seehafer News, United Way’s director of marketing and outreach, Meagan Van Ahn, said volunteers included children in 4K and kindergarten through people in their 80s and 90s. She described the appeal as people doing small things together. Seehafer independently reported that Sept. 24 was the largest Day of Caring in the nonprofit’s history.
Students at Sheboygan South High School also joined in. United Way said biology students helped RCS Empowers prepare an outdoor area for the organization’s first Point 0.5K fundraising event. It was one of several projects that connected school participation with a local nonprofit, without turning the day into a single type of assignment.
More than 100 volunteers from Sargento and Rehlko worked at Livasu, a planned neighborhood in the Town of Wilson designed for people living with dementia. United Way said teams planted dozens of trees, steamed curtains for a community lodge, and painted lockers and mailboxes as the development prepared for future residents. Livasu’s own project page describes a planned community with individual homes, shared amenities, walking paths and ongoing care and support. The work was preparation; the sources do not say that residents had moved in.
The countywide totals put those examples in context. United Way reported 4,827 service hours, 68 projects across 42 locations, participation from 29 companies and $12,500 in project grants for nonprofit and public-serving organizations hosting volunteers. Seehafer independently confirmed the volunteer and service-hour totals. WHBL’s Sept. 29 report had already noted more than 1,400 participants at 42 locations while the final hours were still being compiled.
The hours and totals do not capture every part of a project. United Way’s report describes people planting, preparing food, painting, organizing and readying outdoor spaces. The organization’s Volunteer Center connects businesses, schools, community groups, retirees and individual residents with local opportunities, and the annual event brings many of those partners together on one date.
In Sheboygan County, that shared day included work that could be seen in a planted tree or a prepared room, and work meant to be carried forward in a student’s message or a meal made by neighbors. The placemats were still awaiting their planned presentation when United Way published its recap. The broader record is already clear: children, older adults, company teams and community organizations took part in the same day of service, with projects shaped around the places and people they hoped to support.
Reader responses