{"id":151092,"date":"2026-09-16T18:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T22:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=151092"},"modified":"2026-09-16T18:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T22:07:51","slug":"more-than-1700-volunteers-shine-bright-for-united-way-during-record-breaking-day-of-caring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=151092","title":{"rendered":"More Than 1,700 Volunteers Shine Bright for United Way During Record-Breaking Day of Caring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Photos provided by United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Volunteers from 55 companies and organizations kick off the 2026 United Way campaign during the Lehigh Valley\u2019s most impactful volunteer engagement event<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Allentown, PA, September 15, 2026 \u2013 <\/strong>More than 1,700 energetic volunteers are UNITING to complete community service projects at 72 area nonprofits during the 33rd United Way Day of Caring, presented by Crayola and coordinated by Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/First-Day-Previews-11.jpg?ssl=1\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-151093\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/First-Day-Previews-11.jpg?resize=300%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/First-Day-Previews-11.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/First-Day-Previews-11.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDay of Caring shows what is possible when our community chooses to shine bright together,\u201d shared Marci Lesko, President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way. \u201cTo see so many people from across the Valley come together with neighbors, coworkers and friends all giving their time to strengthen the nonprofits that serve us all, is powerful. This event has grown year after year, and each act of service adds to something greater: a brighter, more connected Greater Lehigh Valley where everyone belongs and everyone can thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>United Way kicks off its annual campaign with Day of Caring, the most impactful volunteer engagement event in the region. This year\u2019s event spans two days with 743 volunteers activated on Tuesday, September 15<sup>th<\/sup> and another 1,004 scheduled for Thursday, September 17<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve both seen firsthand how much a caring community can change someone\u2019s life. Now imagine what more than 1,700 volunteers can do, working together to help our community. Day of Caring shows us that when we all work together toward a common goal, anything is possible,\u201d said 2026 United Way Campaign Chairs Rick and Amy Bucher.<\/p>\n<p>In total, organizations contributed more than 8,806 hours of service valued at $318,249.<\/p>\n<p>Day of Caring projects included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Painting the community room at the Hispanic Center of the Lehigh Valley with Just Born Quality Confections<\/li>\n<li>Brightening the hallways of Paxinosa Elementary School with Crayola<\/li>\n<li>Decorating Cheston Elementary School with Victaulic<\/li>\n<li>Beautifying the grounds of South Mountain Middle School with HNL Lab Medicine<\/li>\n<li>Clean up at Calypso Elementary School with B. Braun Medical, Inc<\/li>\n<li>Planting trees at Wildlands Conservancy with PPL Corp.<\/li>\n<li>Cleaning stalls and the grounds of Horses Healing Heroes with Olympus Corporation of the Americas<\/li>\n<li>Stocking the shelves of Habitat for Humanity\u2019s ReStore with Air Products<\/li>\n<li>Participating in a community project at Roosevelt Elementary School with Capital Blue Cross<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe see every day how meaningful connections between people and nonprofits can strengthen our entire community,\u201d said Karen Smith, CEO, Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley. \u201cUnited Way Day of Caring brings that mission to life on a remarkable<\/p>\n<p>scale, matching nonprofits with the support they need and giving companies a powerful opportunity to unite their teams around service. With even more volunteers stepping forward this year over two days, our partnership with United Way continues to extend the reach of local nonprofits, deepen workplace engagement and create lasting benefits for the Greater Lehigh Valley we all call home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Day of Caring\u2019s presenting sponsor is Crayola with additional support from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>Gold Sponsor Olympus Corporation of the Americas;<\/li>\n<li>Exclusive Lunch Sponsor PPL Corp.;<\/li>\n<li>Bronze Sponsors AAA East Central, Highmark Blue Shield, Just Born Quality Confections and Quandel Construction Group, LLC; and<\/li>\n<li>In-Kind Contributors B. Braun Medical Inc, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Turnstone Creative, Wawa and Working Dog Press.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>About United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley<\/h2>\n<p>United Way fights for the health, safety and education of every person in the Greater Lehigh Valley and envisions communities where every person belongs and every person thrives. We strive to achieve this goal by assessing community needs, raising funds, investing in solutions and mobilizing our community to action. For more information, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unitedwayglv.org\/\">www.UnitedWayGLV.org<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>About the Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley<\/h2>\n<p>The mission of the Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley is to be the premier resource<\/p>\n<p>to connect, empower, and transform an inclusive and engaged diverse culture within the Greater Lehigh Valley by partnering with people, businesses, and non-profits through volunteer coordination, leadership development, and recognition.<\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nAJ Suero<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photos provided by United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley Volunteers from 55 companies and organizations kick off the 2026 United Way campaign during the Lehigh Valley\u2019s most impactful volunteer engagement event Allentown, PA, September 15, 2026 \u2013 More than 1,700 energetic volunteers are UNITING to complete community service projects at 72 area nonprofits during &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=151092\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">More Than 1,700 Volunteers Shine Bright for United Way During Record-Breaking Day of Caring<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\r\n\r\n{excerpt}\r\n\r\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/united-way-giving.jpg?fit=672%2C372&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=151092"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151096,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151092\/revisions\/151096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/151094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=151092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=151092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=151092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}