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10,500 volunteers turned out for United Way's annual Day of Caring, the largest single-day of volunteering in Washington state! Map showing volunteers' impact across King County >
During the 2010 Free Tax Preparation Campaign, 600 United Way volunteers prepared 14,000 tax returns and helped return $19.7 million in federal refunds to the community, including $6.3 million in Earned Income Tax Credits. They saved customers more than $1 million in tax preparation fees. Free tax preparation and access to tax credits helps working families increase their incomes and create savings. This allows low-income people to keep more of their hard-earned money and avoid paying unnecessary fees for commercial tax preparation and "rapid refund" loans. Being financially stable reduces the risk of becoming homeless.
The biggest project during United Way of King County's 2010 Day of Caring was the Community Resource Exchange. In one place, on one day, more than 300 volunteers and 110 service providers connected 2,400 people experiencing homelessness with everything from backpacks, free health care and haircuts, to voicemail accounts, legal assistance and help finding housing.
One of the best—and easiest—ways to help kids succeed in school is to read to them. When kids are read to at an early age, they are more likely to become readers themselves and do well in school. That's why United Way of King County started the Volunteer Reader Program. More than 250 Volunteer Readers have gone out into the community to read aloud to young children, and over the last year, they reached more than 1,400 kids.
United Way of King County enhances the capacity of nonprofit organizations to deliver services in the community by providing training opportunities and discussion forums for staff and board members around key nonprofit management and governance issues. These trainings and forums are open to all nonprofit organizations and volunteers.
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Thank you, Day of Caring sponsors, participating organizations and project leaders >
