VALDOSTA — More than 160 volunteers dispersed throughout the city Friday, helping nonprofits for the semi-annual Day of Caring.

The Greater Valdosta United Way sponsors the collaborative effort to benefit organizations through community projects. Staff from local businesses volunteer their time to sorting donations, organizing and cleaning and performing other tasks assisting nonprofits.

The 2022 event helped 12 agencies under the United Way.

Volunteers gathered at the City of Valdosta’s Unity Park Amphitheater early Friday morning for a breakfast.

Lowndes Associated Peoples Ministries

Corey Andrews, LAMP case manager, said, “We are grateful for the United Way and the volunteers that they connect us with to assist and support our work here at LAMP.

“I believe the Day of Caring event brings a sense of comrade and awareness for nonprofits like LAMP, who many do not know what we do but are able to learn by giving back.”

CBC Bank has been a continued partner throughout the years. Seven representatives volunteered at LAMP this year.

Andrews said volunteers assisted with organizing and clearing space for the warm-season items in the linen closet for shelter residents, as well as, organizing items in the street outreach closet.

Andy Griffin, CBC assistant vice president and GVUW board treasurer, said, “We are happy to support these various community agencies. I believe this is a cool way to have everyone give back.”

Matt Malone, CBC vice president of marketing, said, “This is a great opportunity for anyone to get involved, especially CBC to stay engaged with the community. We are always thankful and happy to build partnership with local agencies and connect with other businesses.”

Malone and Griffin said the Day of Caring semi-annual event allows businesses and nonprofits to connect while encouraging local volunteerism.

Living Bridges Ministry

Living Bridges Ministry volunteers from CJB Industries were moving quickly, lending their efforts both inside and outside of the center.

Carolyn Perret, CJB human resources assistant and first-year volunteer, said the day was a great way to learn and give back to the community.

“This has been an awesome experience,” she said. “After living here for less than a year I didn’t know many of these places even existed and now I know the many volunteer opportunities available around town.”

Perret assisted with moving boxes from storage, donation reassignment and preparing meals for the adult food ministry.

Darcy Gunter, Living Bridges Ministry co-founder, thanked volunteers for their hard work.

Her ministry has participated in three Day of Caring events.

“The volunteers today have done a fantastic job with each task,” she said.

“They completely cleaned and reorganized one of our storage rooms, while helping to sort and reorganize the donations closet.”

She added volunteers assisted with the preparation of hot and cold meals for approximately 140 seniors in the community to pick up.

Lowndes Advocacy Resource Center

The Wild Adventures Theme Park volunteer team at LARC are not strangers to landscaping.

“We are very familiar with landscaping a large theme park and we enjoy giving our time back to the community through the United Way,” Lisa Strickland, Wild Adventures administrative specialist, said.

Jamie May, LARC instructor, and Steve Jaramillo, LARC assistant executive director, said the WA team learned a significant amount of landscaping for expansion into the newly acquired building.

“We are really thankful for the partnership with the United Way,” Jaramillo said. “Each year, they bring a number of nonprofits and businesses together for mutual benefits.”

May added, “Many of these agencies, like LARC benefit greatly because these projects take a long time and having help being able to knock out quicker.”

Strickland said, “We do a lot with United Way and we are thankful to come out and help, it provides so much for the community.”

Volunteers cleared a significant amount of debris and tree in one of the open fields.

Other volunteer locations included Second Harvest, Boys and Girls Club of Valdosta, Camp Rock Georgia, Children’s Advocacy Center, Jacob’s Ladder, The Haven, Valdosta-Lowndes County YMCA, Girls on the Run.

Visit unitedwayvaldosta.org for information about its partner agencies.