THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060424
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Some 2,000 volunteers will take the day off from their regular jobs Thursday to help people resolve a host of problems throughout South Hampton Roads.
That's their way of kicking off this year's fund drive for the United Way of South Hampton Roads.
Used to be they'd gather for a lunch and a pep talk in Norfolk's Scope, then go back to their business routines. No more of that staid stuff.
Like so many Good Samaritans, they will spread across the land Thursday morning to more than 100 charities of the United Way in Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake and Isle of Wight.
Doing good, they found four years ago, is fun.
In 1992, about 500 set out on the quest modeled on an experiment launched the previous year by United Way of Pittsburgh.
Each year the turnout for the Day of Caring has increased in Hampton Roads. Last year they performed 297 services.
United Way headquarters receives pleas for help from its 69 agencies. Working with the Volunteer Connection agency, United Way matches the needs with volunteers from the region's private businesses. Once on their own, volunteers show entrepreneurial zeal.
``Lots of people do things they've never done before or engage in the opposite of their work routines,'' Mike Hughes, United Way president, said Tuesday.
Several lawyers, reaching their assigned site, found a mother had been so busy caring for her terminally ill child and the healthy siblings that she hadn't time to tend to housework. They pitched in and cleaned the house.
In an agency, a new computer had intimidated the entire staff. A volunteer taught the lot how to use it. Word spread, and soon dozens of volunteers were teaching computer literacy.
In 1993, volunteers, including members of the guided-missile cruiser Harry E. Yarnell, spruced up the Sugar Plum Bakery, which employs disabled people.
They painted the exterior, replaced gutters, landscaped the grounds, readied hundreds of items for a yard sale and polished bakery equipment to the last spoon.
The other morning an agency called to report that it would have to postpone repairs to electrical wiring because it lacked funds to buy the material. A volunteer remedied that shortage. He bought it.
``It's a circle of life project,'' Hughes said. ``When you invest time and talent in a project, you really become a part of it.
``That's what we seek to do. Engage people in improving services and they become what I call community owners.''
After the volunteers finish their good works, they will gather for a picnic at 4 p.m. Thursday at Mount Trashmore, swapping stories of the day's adventures. Campaign Chairman David King will announce the goal for this year's fund drive.
For tomorrow's group portrait, the photographer will have to squeeze in 2,100. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Last year's corps of United Way volunteers fanned out to perform 297
services.
by CNB