Prior to working at Jersey Cares I could never imagine the incredible amount of planning and foresight that goes into Jersey Cares Day. Having worked at Jersey Cares for a little over a month now, I was thrown into the final planning and preparation stages for the day. From organizing t-shirts for the volunteers to sorting paint colors at Sherwin Williams, I never thought that so much effort could go into the making of one day of service.
It’s an incredible thing these volunteers are doing for communities throughout New Jersey and the staff at Jersey Cares is double checking every supply to make sure that the day goes as smoothly as possible. The past three weeks have been focused on grabbing last minute registrations, procuring and organizing supplies, and then finally delivering the supplies to the Jersey Cares day sites.
My favorite part of these past weeks has been the supply drop-offs. When going to the sites I get to see how excited the staff there is. The supplies make it real, the paint cans and rollers mean that something new and exiting is coming soon. For one site in Newark, we needed to prime the basement walls before Jersey Cares Day volunteers could cover up the thirteen year-old paint job. The children who spend their time at the Center after school had made a beautiful thank you banner to welcome the volunteers who would be priming the basement. Just the anticipation of change made the children so thankful.
As Jersey Cares Day approaches I’m excited to see the end products of all of the volunteers’ hard work. Thank you to all of those who have registered to volunteer. It means so much to the communities and the staff who work at the facilities where you’re volunteering. And to those who have missed this year’s Jersey Cares Day, there are plenty of more events to come!
Paulette Leonard
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