The 2025 United Way Day of Caring was the most impactful Day of Caring event in over a decade, thanks to the dedication of the volunteers, project hosts, sponsors, and more. With more than 2,100 registered volunteers completing 115 projects at local nonprofits, schools, faith organizations, and more, the estimated value of donated time, materials, and supplies totals more than $365,000–poured directly back into the most deserving organizations in our community.
Jason Espinoza, a former Marine and now Assistant Superintendent at Hourigan, was one of the 2,100 Day of Caring volunteers who gave back to their community on September 17. Jason just began working at Hourigan and was excited to volunteer with his coworkers at Day of Caring. Their project was hosted by Camp Albemarle, where they helped to repairing a set of stairs into a central building on their grounds. It turned out that the project was more involved than originally assumed. While the team made great progress repairing the stairs, they could not complete the project in the time allowed on Day of Caring. Jason was nominated as Day of Caring MVP by his teammates and won the award for demonstrating exceptional dedication to serving others. Because of the time required to properly pour and dry concrete, he returned for three days in a row–commuting back and forth from Lynchburg–to complete the project, including covering the cost of additional materials.
Jason had just moved his family from Texas to Lynchburg for his new job the month before Day of Caring. Many would find themselves more stressed than usual while settling into a new home and job, yet Jason couldn’t stop acknowledging the kindness and generosity of everyone else. “We call this our Hallmark dream because everyone is so nice here,” he said. “It’s a good place to be.”
We interviewed Jason to hear more about his thoughts on our community, giving back, and what it means to be a good neighbor. Read more below:
Could you explain a little bit about your job and what you do?
I’m a construction Assistant Superintendent with Hourigan. I pretty much oversee daily operations from a ground up building.
Have you volunteered at Day of Caring before?
[It] was my first year. Hourigan actually hired me from from Texas. I’m from the Midland area. How I decide who to work for is whether or not they do community service events, anything of that nature. I’m big on giving back to the community, so that was one of the primary reasons. My family and I just moved here in August. So when Day of Caring came up, I was all on board for it.
How has it been living in Lynchburg and being a part of the Greater Charlottesville community?
When my family and I decided to relocate from Texas, we watched a lot of Hallmark movies and we call this our Hallmark dream, so to speak, because everything is so nice here. It’s so beautiful. It’s a it’s a good place to be. People are so friendly and [Day of Caring] was just a great chance to meet a lot of people.
How did you feel when you learned you were named the 2025 Day of Caring MVP?
I was surprised that I got nominated and then won just for something that we would do regardless, you know? At Hourigan, we do the job right as best we can. I’ve done a lot of volunteer work in my life and, to me, it didn’t seem like I did anything extraordinary. I was just doing manual labor that I’ve done in the past or done on my ranch every day when I was back in Texas.
So, you know, to even get nominated, it felt really good and I still don’t think I was deserving of the award. I’m sure there’s other people that worked twice as hard as I did for something that I’m used to doing anyways. But it was it was a nice feeling and I was happy my family was able to be there to accept it with me. It was the first time I’ve won an award like that and we have it in our living room.
What made you keep returning to Camp Albemarle to finish repairing the stairs?
Once I found out this was a task that they they were desperately trying to get done and that elderly people had a hard time accessing the main building, I just I just couldn’t let that slide. Maybe it’s a little bit of the Marine in me, but I just had to get it done. And I wanted people to be able to access the camp after I found out what they do for children. So it was a no-brainer at that point. I wanted to do it and get it done for them so that they would at least have something accessible.
I poured the concrete, then come back [the next day] to make sure it all set up correctly and install the wood. Then removed the forms and then I was on my way. So it was a three day process. I came from my project here in Lynchburg and drove to camp and left it ready for them.
What would you tell people who aren’t sure if they should volunteer?
One thing that I like to teach my Assistant Superintendents is what I was taught early on: you never leave a job site or a place or community in which you build, the same. If there’s something that you could do for somebody, go out of your way to help them. We should help out as much as we can with the knowledge that we have because that’s how we build a better tomorrow. That’s how we build a better future for everybody and sometimes just a little bit can go a long way. Ten minutes, three hours of your time… in the grand scheme of life that can really benefit somebody, you know? You have to give back to your community in some way, shape or form.
What do you think it means to be a good neighbor?
One thing I’ve noticed being here is the amount of people that are so friendly. It rubs off, you know? How people can be good neighbors is the golden rule: do for others that you would want done for yourself. Because what I’ve experienced in Virginia is just phenomenal–people are just helpful. They want to see you succeed.
And I think you should be open-minded. A lot of us get bogged down and don’t want to accept help, but I think to be a good neighbor, you have to ask for help. I think we have to let down our guard in that regard and kind of just keep the love going.