Meeting of the Philanthropic Minds

By the end of morning, 150 boxes of food filled the tables in the pavilion at Stewart Park. I volunteered for a couple of hours as part of my involvement with the Stone Soup Philanthropy Corps.

Today was the United Way-sponsored Stephen E. Warner Day of Caring, a day-long event that serves as a kick-off for the United Way of Tompkins County’s fundraising season, which spans from now until March 31. Now in its thirteenth year, the primary focus of the event was capping off a county-wide weeklong food and personal care products drive. Starting at 8:00 in the morning, trucks full of nonperishable goods and other donated items were brought to the central pavilion at Stewart Park, and volunteers from the community, including students and faculty from Cornell University and Ithaca College, sorted the items into approximately 150 boxes. Later in the day these were delivered to 17 hunger relief agencies. At noon, leaders of this year’s campaign and other figures instrumental to the success of the United Way gave speeches to get everyone excited about the campaign.

I volunteered at the Day of Caring, packaging food and lugging boxes of personal care items from car trunks to the pavilion, and throughout the day, I was overwhelmed by the number of volunteers who came out to support the kick-off. Workers from community institutions and stores, including Wegman’s and Tompkins Trust Company, were among the volunteers, and it was fantastic to see such a far-reaching movement to advocate for local poverty and hunger relief.

Karlem Sivira, a sophomore at Ithaca College, also pitched in, filling empty boxes with nonperishable items like cans and boxed dried goods.

I met tons of people at the event, introducing myself, finding out how they contribute to local aid organizations and talking up this blog. I quickly saw that the list of attendees read like a “who’s who” list of poverty relief workers and advocates in Tompkins County. Among the people who I recognized or was introduced to were:

- James Brown, president of the UWTC

- Other UWTC staff, including Meg Cole (director of community programs) and Ann Colt (director of campaign and community relations)

- Joan Barber, coordinator of Danby Food Pantry and Ithaca Kitchen Cupboard

- Deb Mohlenhoff, assistant director of community service and leadership development at Ithaca College

- John Spence, executive director of Better Housing for Tompkins County

- Chris Sanchirico, executive directotr and Michelle Brichacek, Samaritan Center coordinator for Catholic Charities of Tompkins-Tioga

- And dozens of other people who are leaders of organizations that have been fighting poverty or raising awareness about its effects for years

The UWTC’s goal this year is to raise $2,075,000…the Day of Caring was the first step in meeting this goal, exhibiting Tompkins County’s commitment to both direct service and fundraising administrative management in the name of helping others.

View pictures from this event on Pocket Full of Change’s Flickr Page!

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