Hundreds of volunteers came together at Breese Stevens Field on Aug. 19 to work toward a common goal as the United Way of Dane County officially launched the 2025 Community Campaign with Day of Caring.

“Day of Caring highlights the best of Dane County – uniting to serve, connect and support our neighbors – it’s more than a volunteer event, it’s the spark that ignites more giving to catalyze the necessary impact that’s needed across Dane County. We’re incredibly grateful to our volunteers, partners and sponsors who continue to lead with heart,” said Renee Moe, president & CEO of United Way of Dane County, in a press release. “New this year, we’re excited that Dan and Patti Rashke and their Dan & Patti Rashke (TASC) Family Foundation want to inspire more giving and will ensure 100% of individual giving to the Plan for Community Well-Being goes to impact.”

Over 600 volunteers united for an afternoon of family and team-friendly volunteering activities. At the Day of Caring event, volunteers wrote notes of encouragement for local students, filled backpacks with school supplies and packed more than 9,000 ImPacks – essential care kits that directly support nonprofit partners with the most-requested essentials in our community.

“Day of Caring sets the tone for the annual campaign by demonstrating what we can accomplish when we roll up our sleeves and take action,” shared Kim Sponem, president/CEO of Summit Credit Union and United Way 2025 Campaign Chair. “It’s inspiring to see so many individuals and organizations across Dane County show up with compassion and commitment to lift up our community.”

The event also featured a food drive where ImPacks, backpacks and non-perishable food items were distributed to United Way nonprofit partners, including Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, Porchlight, The Road Home of Dane County, Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin and WayForward Resources.

During the event, United Way announced the 2025 fundraising goal of $17.5 million.

Nonprofit United Way of Dane County on Tuesday launched its 2025 community campaign with a fundraising goal of $17.5 million. The announcement coincided with the organization’s Day of Caring, a volunteer event held at Breese Stevens Field.

Over 600 volunteers participated in volunteering activities, which included filling backpacks with school supplies and packing more than 9,000 ImPacks, which include paper products, menstrual products and other essential items that will be distributed through United Way’s nonprofit partners.

A food drive at the event also collected non-perishable food items for distribution through partners such as Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, Porchlight, The Road Home of Dane County, Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin and WayForward Resources.

MADISON, Wis. (WKOW) — Breese Stevens Field is set to be transformed on Tuesday for the Day of Caring.

The annual event, hosted by United Way of Dane County, aims to support community members in need with thousands of donated items and non-perishable foods. It starts at 1:30 p.m.

The Day of Caring marks the start of the United Way campaign, which has a goal to raise more than $17 million. Volunteers will gather in the early afternoon to pack snack kits, fill backpacks and write notes of encouragement

Renee Moe, president and CEO of United Way of Dane County, emphasized the broader impact of their goals.

“To really frame up the issues and mobilize caring power to get more done for our communities, we want to make sure that children, families, individuals that are struggling have the support they need, they know the community cares, and have those on ramps to more lifelong success and every United Way is focusing on that,” Moe said.

She shared that events like this helps the community get closer to finding solutions instead of just the issues.

The paper product, menstrual hygiene and snack packs will be distributed along with backpacks and notes of encouragement to the community through United Way’s nonprofit partners.

Moe encourages those in need to call 211 and invites others to get involved by volunteering or donating. More information on the event can be found here.

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – To kick off this year’s community campaign season, United Way of Dane County hosted their annual Day of Caring on Tuesday.

Hundreds of local volunteers gathered at Breese Stevens Field to assemble care kits and backpacks, which will be distributed to different partners of United Way.

Those partners include Porch Light, The Road Home of Dane County, Second Harvest Food Bank and Way Forward Resources.

President and CEO of United Way in Dane County Renee Moe said it was great to see the community unite and support those who cannot cover the basics.

“When they get impacts like these, they cover the immediate,” said Moe. “So the snacks, the school supplies, the paper products that they might need. But it’s the campaign that raises for programs and services that help get families not only out of the day-to-day crisis, but hopefully into more well-being.”

Paper product packs, menstrual hygiene packs, healthy snack packs, school supplies and notes of encouragement made up the care kits.

Around 700 people volunteered at the event.

The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time, and one Dane County organization is hoping to dig its forks to the occasion Tuesday and make a sizeable dent in the elephant-size issue of local poverty.

On Tuesday afternoon, the United Way of Dane County will kick off what it hopes to be a $17.5 million season with its annual Day of Caring, a volunteer-driven event that sees participants compile things like food, school supplies and hygiene products to be given to those in need.

“It’s a chance to come together, get people more approximate to the issues and how we respond in the community,” United Way President and CEO Renee Moe said. “We need more than ever to come together as neighbors.”

From 1:30 to 3 p.m., hundreds of people will gather at Breese Stevens Field to pack food and health supplies, forming a sort of humanitarian assembly line. They’re tasked with putting together 250 backpacks, 4,000 paper products, 3,000 menstrual hygiene packages, 2,000 healthy snacks and 1,000 encouraging notes, which will go to Porchlight, the Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, the Road Home of Dane County, Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin and WayForward Resources.

Volunteers at the 2024 Day of Caring heft bags full of donated necessities, packed by around 500 volunteers. This year, more than 900 people have registered for the day.

“We’re really excited to see those numbers back up,” she said.

But just as the volunteer number has increased, so too has the need. More than 58,000 Dane County residents are living in poverty, 10.5% of the population. Calls to 211, United Way Dane County’s help line, are up 36%, with the highest volumes seeking food, rent and utility assistance.

Another issue United Way hopes to address is the racial disparities in Dane County, where Black people account 5% of the overall population but more than 40% of those who are homeless, according to the organization’s data. Black people in Dane County are also twice as likely as white people to be living in poverty, and the average life expectancy of a Black person here, 71 years, is more than a decade shorter than for white, Asian and Latino people in the county.

Fourteen cents of every dollar United Way raises toward its charitable efforts goes toward administrative costs. This year, though, another local organization is looking to bridge that 14-cent gap with its own contributions.

The Dan and Patti Rashke (TASC) Foundation will be underwriting each individual donation, making up for those administrative costs so that all of the money an individual donates goes directly to people in need.

“It takes that barrier out,” Moe said. “That’s a really big deal.”

Registration for the event is still open, so anyone who wants to attend the Day of Caring or otherwise contribute to the United Way can find information on the organization’s website, UnitedWayDaneCounty.org.

Next Tuesday, Aug. 19, is United Way’s Day of Caring at Breese Stevens Field, and it resonates with me in ways it hasn’t before. The world is a bit of a mess. Every day seems to bring a new story of human suffering, and each of those stories contains some evidence of the absence of concern, to say nothing of compassion. Human beings, children and entire families are living in fear, misery and desperation. And people who can do something about it don’t give a damn. So, a “day of caring.” What a concept.

It is not a new concept, of course. United Way of Dane County, or UWDC, has organized the day of volunteering as the kickoff for its annual Community Campaign for almost 25 years now. (Last year’s Community Campaign raised $17.3 million thanks to more than 13,000 people and 500 businesses.) The Day of Caring is a kickoff event where hundreds of people, employees from local businesses, families, groups of friends and community-minded citizens help folks who need it with clean-up, pick-up and fix-up jobs at dozens of designated homes and community spaces. (There are 900 people registered so far for this year’s kickoff.)

It’s an uplifting, positive day that — like United Way of Dane County itself — makes a difference in people’s lives. But, for reasons beyond that, it just feels like we need as many days of caring as we can get right now. And I’m grateful to UWDC for reminding us of that.

Caring — and caring enough to do something about it — is what makes UWDC so special. I believe our county’s United Way stands apart from most United Ways in other communities. Over the last 40 years I’ve been in more UWDC-led meetings than I can count, and I have seen firsthand the level of commitment and dedication, from volunteers, young people, retirees and civic activists, as well as occupants of C-level suites of almost every major business, organization and employer in Dane County. It is a display of trust, confidence and belief that UWDC has earned through decades of hard work, accountability and unparalleled knowledge of Dane County.

The work has included concerted and badly needed efforts that include supporting families, providing housing stability, ensuring children are healthy and able to achieve in school, allowing older adults to enjoy quality lives, and confronting racism and injustice wherever it rears its ugly head. Importantly, UWDC has also demonstrated the wisdom and nimble flexibility to pivot when necessary to address compelling community needs when they arise. And underlying every one of those decisions and action plans — every stay-to-the-end meeting, every hard decision of how to allocate limited resources — is a visible, palpable, explicit expression of caring. People work at, volunteer at and support UWDC because each one of them cares.

There are times I wish United Way of Dane County could change its name. I worry it has become so ubiquitous that we take it for granted: it will always be there, it will always be wisely directing dollars to nonprofit service providers, and it always raises enough money to do that.

But the contrast between the positivity, hope and impact of a Day of Caring, and the often depressing, frightening, soul-sapping times in which we live should motivate us all to give what we can — of our time and/or money, to make sure UWDC really can continue to promote a community that cares. That may require a little more thought and effort given the evolution from traditional workplace giving and paycheck deductions models to now-common online giving. But I’m recommending we make the effort.

There’s still time to register for free to volunteer at the Day of Caring on Aug. 19 at Breese Stevens Field. Or, visit unitedwaydanecounty.org for an invitation to be inspired by the power of many, the kindness of others and how we can incorporate that spirit into our lives in ways that contribute to that effort.

Neil Heinen is a former editorial director of Madison Magazine and News 3 Now. He writes this “I Have Some Thoughts” web-exclusive column monthly.

DANE COUNTY, Wis. (WKOW) — United Way of Dane County is preparing for its annual community fundraising campaign, the Day of Caring, and the public is invited to participate.

Renee Moe, president and CEO of United Way of Dane County, appeared on 27 News at 5 on Thursday to talk about the event.

The Day of Caring is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 19, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Breese Stevens Field in Madison. This year’s campaign goal is $17.5 million.

Hundreds of local volunteers are expected to assemble thousands of essential care kits called ImPacks and backpacks for students and families in the community.

The event will also feature a food drive and opportunities to learn about challenges facing Dane County. Participants will receive a free United Way volunteer T-shirt, enjoy snacks and work together to make a difference locally.

Click here for more information.

WKOW is a proud event sponsor.