The highly successful United Way “Day of Caring,” where community members take on service projects throughout Dane County , is focusing on one of its most influential communities: Middleton.

United Way will conduct its “Middleton Day of Caring and Campaign Kickoff” on Friday, August 27. This day will highlight Middleton companies and residents participating in Middleton-specific service projects. From 1:00-4:30pm volunteers will clean parks and lakes, clean and repair homes of the elderly and disabled, as well as help Middleton Outreach Ministry switch clothes from summer to winter inventory at our Distribution Center.

For our part, MOM is also organizing and hosting several service projects in the homes of our elderly or disabled clients and neighbors. We’re still looking for and would most welcome companies who will sign up and do any of the following: paint a living room, wash walls, vacuum floors, clean kitchen, install ceiling fan, stain a deck, fix broken chair, tear down ceiling tiles, patch a sidewalk, wash windows, do yard work—all at various homes.

The United Way Middleton Day of Caring, like the other Days of Caring, focuses on the impact volunteerism has in a community. Companies both large and small, from Spring Windows Fashion and Full Compass to Sakowski Consulting, LLC, will give their employees the afternoon to complete one task that will make a positive change in Middleton.

“Having a day where we can make a difference in Middleton is important,” says Phil Jackson, Committee Chair for the United Way Middleton Day of Caring and Vice President of Operations at Full Compass. “United Way of Dane County’s mission is to unite and focus the community on issues identified as most important. Therefore, helping an elderly person remain independent in their home, or sprucing up a park to make a neighborhood safer is all a part of fostering a strong Middleton, and thus, a strong Dane County.”

United Way has supported Middleton Outreach Ministry for the last fifteen years, most recently awarding a grant of $46,000 for our Project of Older People (POP) and our Rental Assistance Program (RAP). United Way’s financial support of the total MOM budget is almost equal to that of the 12 churches combined that make up Middleton Outreach Ministry.

With United Way , community- and church-based funding, Middleton Outreach Ministry helps fulfill two of the United Way ’s 7-point “Agenda for Change,” which focuses on “what matters” most. More specifically, POP enables Seniors and people with disabilities are able to stay in their homes, while RAP prevents homelessness and makes rental housing more affordable and available for hundreds of MOM clients and low-income families.

United Way of Dane County will hold its countywide Days of Caring/Campaign Kickoff Thursday, August 26. Four additional days are scheduled to accommodate the increasing interest in volunteer projects: August 31, September 2, 8 and 10. All five days are sponsored by the generous support of Oscar Mayer/Kraft Foods. The sixth Day of Caring is August 27 in Middleton, sponsored by Springs Window Fashions.

The August 27 Day of Caring in Middleton will be capped off by a rally at the Good Neighbor Festival, inside the VFW beer tent, from 5:15-5:45pm. What a great way to start off your Good NeighborFest weekend and the United Way campaign here in Middleton!

And “on the seventh day….”Kathy Martinson, Director of the United Way Volunteer Center, concludes, “We heard a need from the community on both ends: both those who could use some extra help and by those who wanted to make a visible impact in their community. Hosting six days is a way for us to spread our efforts and help as many people as possible.”

Last year, almost 2000 people volunteered, and Martinson expects 3000 people to register this year, many of those from Middleton area businesses. So this year Middleton is featured with its own United Way Day of Caring. For more information on how you can become involved, please contact Kathy Martinson, Director of the United Way Volunteer Center at (608) 246-4356 or e-mail kathym@uwdc.org.

We hope that one “day of caring” will translate into days, even months, of caring. MOM has year-round service projects, especially in our Distribution Center. Volunteer extraordinaire Roxanne White is leaving the DC, where she has been so attentive to clients and their clothing needs. As Roxanne returns to school this fall, MOM needs 20 volunteer teams to “adopt a rack” and uphold the standard of excellence that the Clothing Closet has attained. For more information on how you can volunteer at MOM’s Distribution Center or with POP, contact Kate Gaines at (608) 826-3409 or e-mail kate@mompop.org.

Marlena Deutsch, Marketing Outreach Coordinator for the United Way of Dane County, contributed to this article.

© 2004 Middleton Outreach Ministry

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