The kitchen at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission (UGM) serves roughly 27,000 meals every month to those in need. Each night for dinner, they see approximately 350 guests in their small cafeteria, located in downtown Seattle. That’s a whole lot of chopping and dicing for the three cooks on staff, tasked with preparing enough servings to go around.

After spending Day of Caring volunteering in the Kitchen at UGM, a group of Seattle area lawyers, led by volunteer Mari Horita, got to experience first-hand all the…

United Way of King County’s Day of Caring was a day devoted to harnessing the power of volunteers!  Over 11,000 volunteers from business and community groups fanned out throughout King County to work with hundreds of nonprofits on 400 + projects.  The accomplishments of this army of volunteers were remarkable.  Seeing so many volunteers at work on behalf of the community was truly inspirational.  To access some of these amazing volunteer stories check out the September 28^th blog post Great work – great stories.…

One of my favorite things about working here at United Way of King County is hearing the stories from people that are out there doing good work.  11,000 volunteers worked at projects for United Way of King County’s Day of Caring on September 16, and I’ve had the pleasure of hearing about a number of their experiences.  I thought I’d share some of them with you from volunteers who have blogged about their day of volunteering  Here are some of the ones that I’ve found so far.  If you’ve got…

Today, I am moving on. After three years working in the Brand department at United Way of King County, I’m saying my farewells.

My first encounter with United Way of King County was in the late ’90s. I was working as a copywriter at Nordstrom, and the fall campaign season was kicking off.  There was an event called “Day of Caring,” and coworkers were signing up. The more I heard, the more I wanted to join in. It sounded like an amazing thing–and it…

As you may have heard, United Way of King County’s Day of Caring is the single largest day of volunteering in Washington State, and this year we anticipate over 10,000 people will spend the day volunteering with local organizations. That’s huge! Already, 9,000 people have signed up to volunteer all over King County, including groups from Microsoft, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AT&T and many more. Use the search box on the map below to see where your favorite local company will…

United Way of King County awarded AT&T the Spirit of Puget Sound Award—our top honor for corporate philanthropy—at the Spirit of Caring Celebration on March 8.

The Spirit of Puget Sound Award honors outstanding community involvement, sustained campaign excellence, and the promotion of volunteerism.

Here are just a few reasons why we presented AT&T with this prestigious honor:

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Meeting people’s basic needs, welcoming more people home, giving all kids an equal chance to succeed, helping our neighbors in need—it’s all because of generous people like YOU who give and volunteer. Thanks for your continued support of United Way of King County and best wishes for 2011!

10 Ways You Did More in 2010

10. You were one of the 32,000 people in King County who volunteered your time and talents to improve the community.

9. You helped 7,000 struggling people…

Over 10,000 United Way Day of Caring Volunteers! All I can say is “Wow!”  From the feedback I’ve received since Friday from agency staff about the incredible work done last Friday, there is definitely a lot to celebrate!  Just check out the photos of Day of Caring volunteers in action and you really get a feel for the energy and excitement that infused the day. 

I want to take a moment to celebrate the staff and volunteers at 281 agencies that submitted their Day…

“Token days are not the ebb and flow of life.  They ease our feelings of regret about the way things have to be for the remainder of the year.  They do not really change the way things are.”–Jonathan Kozol, “The Shame of the Nation”

Last Friday was Day of Caring, my 13th with United Way of King County.  I was among about 300 volunteers (there were over 10,500 total throughout the county) that spent the day at Qwest Field for the Community Resource Exchange.  In…

United Way of King County’s Day of Caring is an amazing day of hope, unity and action and we want to see how your company or group does volunteerism! Share your Day of Caring photos with United Way and you will be entered to win a number of fabulous prizes (gift certificate to a Tom Douglas restaurant, anyone?). Anyone who submits a photo by 5 pm on September 27th is automatically entered to win but we will also be awarding prizes for each of…