United Way

There were 382 people who signed up for the United Way Day of Caring today, but Susie Boyce thinks more people than that are participating because organizers ordered 425 T-shirts and they ran out.

The volunteers will work on 32 projects today, which amounts to about $36,000 in labor contributions.

The group from Genesee ARC.

The Kiwanis Club of Batavia.

Joe Saco sang the National Anthem and America the Beautiful.

Last year, Amber, on the right, received a bicycle that had been reconditioned by volunteers at Adam Miller Toy and Bicycles. Today, she read a message about how much the bike has meant to her to help her get around town and go to and from her job. Shelley Falitico, from Genesee ARC, is with her.

Some people volunteer on a daily or weekly basis. Other people would like to volunteer but fear they don't have the time to make a regular commitment to any one cause.

If you're in that second group of people mark May 8 on your calendar. It's a day just about custom made for you.

You can spend the day making a meaningful contribution to your community without becoming burdened by an ongoing commitment.

May 8 is United Way's "Day of Caring," when community volunteers -- both the ongoing kind and the one-day kind -- come together to help local charities and civic groups complete necessary projects.

"At the core and essence of it, that's what it's about," said Genesee County United Way Director Erik Fix. "You take a day, one day, and you do what you can to give back to your community for a day. Folks want to make a difference in this economy and this is the day to do it."

Last year, 304 Genesee County residents participated in the Day of Caring, which was another new record, and at least that many, if not more will be needed again this year for the nearly 50 projects lined up by the Genesee County United Way.

Many of the projects are much like projects in previous years -- spring garden clean up at UMMC, downtown clean up for the BID, and general clean up at the Office for the Aging -- and while those are important projects, there's some new ones this year that are drawing extra attention.

Chief among them is the installation of new equipment at Kiwanis Park for the new inclusive playground.

Only about 50 volunteers are needed for that project, Fix said, and there's already more demand than spaces.

And since all projects are important, Fix hopes volunteers can get steered to any of the other projects.

That may be building raised bed boxes for the new community garden at the Batavia Youth Bureau, creating a vegetable garden at Eagle Start Housing, fixing bikes for ARC at Adam Miller or helping Habitat for Humanity start a new housing project.

Other choices might be doing work for Genesee ARC, the Town of Bergen, Notre Dame High School, the YMCA and the YWCA, the Gillam Grant Community Center, the Peace Garden, Go Art or the Elba Historical Society.

The range of projects is so broad, every volunteer is likely to be able to step forward and help with something of interest.

"These projects are the ones that agencies don't have the time or manpower to get done," Fix said.

The usual big groups of volunteers, from businesses such as Chapin and civic groups such as Rotary and Kiwanis, have already filled out their volunteer forms, but in the next few weeks, Fix said he expects the smaller groups and single individuals will step forward.

Usually about this time in the process, he said, two or three people who aren't affiliated with a larger organization will say to each other, "hey, let's do this," and they come forward.

The United Way can be reached at (585) 343-8141.

Yesterday, as part of the United Way Day of Caring, members of the Batavia Lions Club showed up at Adam Miller Toy and Bicycles and whipped 25 bikes into shape for local charities, including Genesee ARC. Near the end of the day, four clients of Genesee ARC showed up to pick up their new rides. Pictures are Hank, left, Amber, Tim and Andrew.

More than 300 local residents showed up at Dwyer Stadium bright and early this morning to kick off United Way's Day of Caring.

It's the largest number of volunteers yet for the annual event.

Volunteers perform a variety of tasks for local agencies, from painting to weed pulling and other tasks. 

This year, among the volunteer efforts, Lions Club members showed up at Adam Miller Toy and Bicycles to recondition 25 bikes into rideable machines for Genesee ARC clients.

Though not part of the event at Dwyer, 40 students at Batavia High School participated in Day of Caring by doing volunteer work on campus.

In all, 40 businesses and organizations sent volunteers and tasks were performed at more than two dozen locations throught the county.

Joe Sacco, below, sang the National Anthem and "America the Beautiful" to kick off the event.

Top group photo by Kevin Carlson, of Carlson's Studio.

If you're unable to view the slide show, click here.

The United Way Day of Caring is May 16 and the planning committee is seeking volunteers and sponsors. To pitch in, call the United Way office at 343-8141.

Photo: Back row: Erik Fix, Jay Gsell, Dave Cecere, Marie Nettnin, Scott Neff, Shelley Falitico, Theresa DeMars, Jane Scott, Chris Fix. Front row: Susie Boyce, Lori Stupp, Debbie Fischer, Carol Boshart.

Not included in the photo: Donna Saskowski, Sue Schuler, Sue Boss.

Photo submitted by Susie Boyce.

The United Way Backpack Program received a donation today from the Batavia Bulldawgs Youth Football Program today. The Bulldawgs played Le Roy in a special fundraiser game this past weekend and collected nonperishable food donations and cash donations for the program. It provides a backpack filled with food to underprivileged children each Friday. The backpack is designed to provide meals and snacks for the family over the weekend. Pictured are John Reigle, left, Matt Dellapenna, Lori Stupp, Paul Grazioplene and Ken Proefrock. Stupp is the United Way's backpack volunteer coordinator.

Nearly 250 people braved a little wet weather this morning to show up at Dwyer Stadium to kick off the Day of Caring, sponsored by United Way.

The event sends people out into the community to perform a variety of volunteer tasks for nonprofit organizations, such as painting, cleaning, gardening and minor construction projects.

The organizers this year are (in no particular order): Jamie Rada, Chris Fix, Jane Scott, Susie Boyce, Debbie Fischer, Theresa DeMars, Lori Stupp, Shelley Fallitico (not pictured), Dave Cecere, Katie Betters, Scott Neff, Sue Boss, Carol Boshart, Jay Gsell, Erik Fix, Susan Schuler and Donna Saskowski.

For Batavia-area residents working in Monroe County, unless they specifically earmark their United Way donations for Genesee County, the money will remain in Rochester.

The formula for divvying up the funds has been changed, starting with the next pledge campaign. United Way's fiscal year runs from March 31 to April 1 of the following year.

More than a dozen local nonprofits rely on help from the United Way. Recipients include the Salvation Army and the Genesee/Orleans Regional Concern. Each year they receive a portion of funds based on the estimated percentage of people who commute to work in Rochester (since Genesee County falls under the umbrella of the Rochester-area United Way).

As expected, about $20,000 in so-called "commuter dollars" will be forthcoming this year.

But thousands of dollars could be rerouted to Monroe County charities for the 2011-12 pledge drive and beyond unless people designate Genesee County as the intended recipient of United Way funds.

"The best we can do is word of mouth -- we don't have money to market and tell people that this is required or we don't (get to) keep the money here," said Jamie Beedham-Rada, regional director of the United Way.

The option for designating funds for a particular county was not included on pledge forms until now.

The code number 9022 must be noted on donor/pledge forms, including those filled out online.

"Their thinking is that big donors, like Xerox, etc., don't have as many workers, donations are down, and there are fewer dollars to go around," Beedham-Rada said. "So unless they use the 9022 code number, the money will stay in Rochester.

"That's our concern -- we could lose thousands and thousands of dollars, Beedham-Rada said. "The fix is easy, but if people don't know, the money won't come back. And without United Way funding, many local agencies would be in dire straits."