United Way Of Mahaska County Prepares for Day of Caring!
United Way of Mahaska County Executive Director Brianne Fitzgerald on the upcoming Day of Caring! (photo D.Hubbard)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The United Way of Mahaska County has undergone some changes here lately, mainly those being the person at the helm. Operation Backpack just finished up, and the group is now looking forward to the annual Day of Caring.
Brianne Fitzgerald takes over the Executive Director position. She comes all the way from Muscatine, where she also worked for the United Way. Along with the big move to Oskaloosa, there comes all the things that a new person faces, plus the extra workload of learning all the pieces that make Mahaska County and Oskaloosa tick.
Fitzgerald is still working on putting together more volunteers for The Day of Caring that will be held Thursday, September 8th. The Mahaska County United Way is now in its fourth year of the project and it continues to grow as a way for local businesses and individuals to give back to the community. Your welcome to make your own team of volunteers or come as an individual, where your individual efforts will be multiplied by those sharing the day with you.
This year the group is going to be working at Edmundson Park and “one of the great projects that we’re going to be doing is because of what happened in Joplin Missouri”. They will be painting street numbers on the curbs to help emergency workers and others find you or your home in the event of an emergency or disaster, like the one that devastated Joplin. “For emergency disaster purposes, Mike Schrock from the City has been talking about trying to get that done. Most cities charge a fee to be able to do that. And we’re doing that for free.”
Fitzgerald says they are doing this to help prepare Oskaloosa “for something that hopefully never happens.” She continued on by saying, “it may seem minuscule, but in a big disaster like that, it’s really important.”
Fitzgerald asked the city what they could help with as she wants to help instill a sense of “ownership” so that everyone will help to pitch in and take pride in their community. She says that is where some of the negative comes from because people see sidewalks or street problems and “people say ‘oh, the cities not doing this’. It’s not about that. Day of Caring is not about that. It’s about giving back to your community and making that impact and knowing that you made a difference by trying to help it out in the long run. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge, who’s suppose to do it, who’s not suppose to do it, all of that is irrelevant.” Fitzgerald said that it also took some time in Muscatine for people to see that “it’s something bigger than ourselves, it’s not about pointing fingers and somebody saying that something should have been done by somebody else.”
If your interested in more information or want to sign up to volunteer, you can contact the United Way of Mahaska County at 641.673.6043
