History

Our United Way Day of Caring in the Charlottesville area was established in 1992 by the United Way of Greater Charlottesville to promote the spirit and value of volunteerism, increase the awareness of local human service agencies and schools, and demonstrate what people working together for the community’s good can accomplish.

In 1999, the Day of Caring was renamed the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring in honor of Larry Richardson, a long-time volunteer of the United Way and the community, and past president of the Charlottesville Broadcasting Company.

The United Way Day of Caring is a yearly event that takes place each September. An event that started with around 50 volunteers has now grown into an event that includes nearly 2,000 volunteers completing 200 projects in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa, Nelson and Greene. The value of the volunteer’s service in the 2021 United Way Day of Caring was over $300,000.

Get Involved

You can get involved in the next Day of Caring in multiple ways. If you work at a public school, local public service department (such as parks & recreation departments), nonprofit, or other tax-exempt organization please reach out about submitting a project for volunteers to complete. If you work at or are part of an organization that wants to volunteer for Day of Caring, reach out to the United Way to learn more about signing up to volunteer. Please note, due to demand, not all groups find a project that fits their team for Day of Caring. However, the United Way can also help groups find volunteer opportunities outside of this day as the need for volunteers in our community is not limited to one day in September.

Your first step is to get in contact with our Donor Engagement Manager: Markiana Smith at msmith@unitedwaycville.org or 434-972-1702. Please refer to the deadlines in the resource section of this page for all steps in the process.