United Way of Dutchess-Orange Region will celebrate the 26th anniversary of Make A Difference Day this year, not just for a day, but for almost an entire week, from October 24th to October 28th. The eight Make A Difference Day projects will provide people and businesses with an opportunity to volunteer to help their local communities.
Hudson River Housing’s Middle Main Clean-Up project will take place on Saturday, October 28th and the public is invited to join in the clean-up. Volunteers will help clean up several areas of Middle Main, including Main Street, Murphy Park at 517 Main Street, Cherry Street as well as the arterial of Poughkeepsie. The project runs from 10am to 12pm. For more information, go to http://bit.ly/MADD-HRH.
Volunteer teams from local businesses will have the opportunity to work with Boys and Girls Club of Newburgh, Food Bank of Hudson Valley, Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County, Hudson Valley Community Services, Newburgh Armory Unity Center, Pawling Resource Center and Spark Media Project/Mill Street Loft.
The organizations that have put together teams of volunteers for Make A Difference Day include: Ball Corporation, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp, Child Care Council of Dutchess and Putnam, Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce, FLUOR, GAP, Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Hudson Valley Young Professionals, Leadership Orange, Macy’s, Marist College, Rhinebeck Bank, SUNY Orange, TD Bank, United Natural Foods Inc (UNFI), UPS and Young Leaders United.
Last year during Make A Difference Day, 150 volunteers dedicated 730 hours to eight projects organized by United Way of Dutchess-Orange Region. The estimated economic impact was $19,607.80. Make A Difference Day is one of the largest national Days of Service that United Way takes part in.
Melissa Clark, Director of Community Impact, described one of the goals of Make A Difference Day as being to: “embrace the spirit of volunteerism and encourage corporate and community partners engage with the work nonprofits do every day.” United Way is empowering businesses and individuals to positively impact their communities. Jazmin Awada, who is new to the team, said: “it is exciting to be part of a national project with thousands of volunteers across the country working toward the same goal!”
If you are interested in signing up for Make A Difference Day or learning about future volunteer opportunities, please visit United Way’s Volunteer Portal at volunteer.uwdor.org or contact Melissa Clark at 845-471-1900 ext. 3128 or mclark@uwdor.org.
