On Monday, August 31, from 8:30 am to 4 pm, 30 employees and students of Thompson Rivers University will be donating their time, expertise and enthusiasm for a Day of Caring at the Boys and Girls Club facilities on McArthur Island.

The TRU community readily came forward, using a day’s vacation to pitch in and help the Boys and Girls Club with painting and improving the playground. The day of volunteering say members from CUPE, the Faculty Association, the TRU Student Union, trade students working alongside each other to support the United Way.

Besides painting several rooms inside the building – recreation areas as well as storage space, tables and cabinets, TRU volunteers will be picking up larger projects outside the facility. They will build a pergola as TRU Trades students erect a storage shed that has been donated by the TRU School of Trades and Technology.

“Monday is going to be a busy and fun day, ” said Brenda Aynsley, Executive Director of Thompson Nicola Cariboo United Way“TRU has provided one of our largest volunteer groups ever for a Day of Caring event”

Day of Caring is a community initiative designed to foster a sense of caring through volunteerism. It is not a fund-raising event, but an opportunity for businesses and their employees to undertake worthwhile projects for non-profit organizations. Not only do the non-profit organizations benefit from valuable assistance in completing a much needed project that would not have been done otherwise, but the employee groups are given the opportunity to see first hand what valuable services are being provided by annual contributions to the United Way.

In 2008 TRU’s United Way employee campaign, raising over $63,000, earning the university the 2008 Community Spirit Large Organization award, which recognized TRU’s encouragement of staff to learn about and contribute to their community through United Way involvement

Contact: Larry Phillips, TRU United Way Employee Campaign Chair,
(p) 250-319-8418 (e) lphillips@tru.ca