Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Sept. 26, 2025 – The United Way of Northeast Arkansas celebrated its annual Day of Caring on Friday with numerous community service projects, as well as awarding over $28,000 to local organizations through the Community Connect Program.
United Way of NEA executive director Heather Coats said Day of Caring is held on the last Friday in September every year, where local businesses and volunteers do service projects all over the community.
“This year, we actually have teams all the way from Jonesboro to Paragould to Lafe. We even have a team working on a Make a Wish house in Lafe,” Coats said, noting some of the projects happening through the community – from painting lines in parking lots and trimming trees to taste-testing and playing bingo at the TLC Adult Center to major construction projects.
“You name it, and they’re doing it today,” she continued. “We have a new group that came in this year. They’ve never done it before, and they’re building a greenhouse for a nonprofit today. So, it is just so many awesome things that are happening, from individuals getting wheelchair ramps to organizations getting some of the help they need that maybe couldn’t afford it if we didn’t have this group of volunteers working today.”
According to Coats, over 616 volunteers and 44 different businesses participated in 75 different Day of Caring projects across the NEA area, totaling about 3,700 hours of volunteer service in just one day.
“We have a wonderful group right now that have been at Judd Hill Farmer’s Market all morning cooking homemade cookies and brownies in that beautiful kitchen they have out there at Judd Hill; and now they are out delivering all those to fire stations, police stations, E-911, and all the city workers that just keep us going,” Coats said.
She also spoke about the $28,700 worth of grants given through the organization’s Community Connect Program, which is money outside of its yearly allocation.
These grants included $3,500 to the American Cancer Society, $4,500 to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation, and $14,000 to St. Jude’s Hospital during the Day of Caring Kick-off Breakfast, as well as several surprise on-site awards such as $3,700 to the Northeast Arkansas Humane Society, $1,000 to The Learning Center, and $1,000 to the Friends of the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library.
“This is the first year we’ve done it on this day, but that’s what we do is raise money and give it out,” Coats said. “But it was nice to kind of combine those two things and be able to show all the people in the room this morning that all of their donations that they give every day through their payroll deduct or that they give in their one-time donations… to show them some of the places where their money goes.”
For more information about Day of Caring or the nonprofit, visit the United Way of Northeast Arkansas website.
