United Way sets Day of Caring

Photo: Maureen McAllister, director of United Way Orange County, is looking for volunteers to help rebuild homes on Day of Caring, Friday, May 3.

Dave Rogers

For The Record

The United Way of Orange County couldn’t have picked a better time to hold its first Day of Caring.

With hundreds of homes still not totally rebuilt 18 months after being flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey, Day of Caring hopes to take a bunch of those homes off the to-do list with its one-day of volunteer service, Friday, May 3.

The deadline to sign up is Monday, April 15 at www.unitedwayorangecounty.org.

Groups of volunteers will be working on Harvey-damaged homes, painting, cleaning up and doing construction.

Breakfast, lunch and T-shirts will be provided.

“The number of homes we can repair has to do with how many volunteers we get,” said Maureen McAllister, director of the United Way Orange County.

“We don’t want volunteers standing around with nothing to do, or on the flip side, have 10 houses to work on and only 12 volunteers.”

The event is being held in partnership with IConnect Outreach, Nehemiah’s Vision and Orange County Disaster Rebuild. Dow, Chevron Chemical and International Paper are sponsoring breakfast, lunch and T-shirts.

“Several of the plants and local businesses will have teams but people can sign up individually, too,” McAllister said.

Her goal is to send one team of 10 volunteers to each home.

“We’re just trying to get anyone to volunteer. If somebody has 20 volunteers, we’ll just form two teams.”

IConnect and Nehemiah’s Vision are providing case management for people still needing Harvey repairs to their home and will provide the list of homes for Day of Care.

“We will all meet at 7:45 a.m. at the Expo Center [11475 FM 1442, Orange],” McAllister said.

“Breakfast will be provided. We’ll have a short safety meeting, and everybody will go out to homes in Orange County and work. Lunch will be brought to the worksites and work will be concluded at 4 p.m.”

Volunteers are asked to dress appropriately for the weather and wear their United Way Day of Caring T-shirt over jeans or shorts.

Open-toed shoes will not be permitted at the worksites.

If needed, hard hats will be provided. Safety glasses will be provided at the worksites. Gloves will be available, but volunteers may bring their own gloves, as well as small hand tools and tool belts if desired.

If desired, bring sunscreen and insect repellant. Bottled water will be available at the worksites.

For more information, call McAllister at 409-883-3591 or email [email protected]