Thousands participate in annual Tulsa Area United Way Day of Caring

TULSA - Nearly 5,000 volunteers kicked off the 2012 Tulsa Area United Way Day of Caring Friday morning.

Volunteers will complete more than 300 community service projects, including cleaning, construction, playground maintenance and teaching.

"This is a day for Tulsa-area residents to celebrate our proud tradition of helping each other," said Mark Graham, president and chief executive officer of the Tulsa Area United Way.  "These volunteers really demonstrate what we can accomplish when we work together for our community."

Tulsa's Day of Caring is one of the nation's largest one-day service projects. 

Graham said volunteers log more than 30,000 hours of work on the hundreds of projects.

In the past 88 years, the Tulsa Area United Way has invested more than $618 million in the Tulsa area.

The Tulsa Area United Way provides services to more than 630,000 individuals annually through its 61 partner agencies in Creek, Okmulgee, Osage, Rogers, Wagoner and Tulsa counties.

For more information, call TAUW at 583-7171 or visit http://www.tauw.org.