NORWICH – With its annual Day of Caring right around the corner, the Chenango United Way is soliciting volunteers who want to lend a helping hand and leave behind a meaningful impact on their local community.

The United Way Day of Caring - a yearly tradition in which United Way volunteers lend their talent, skills and abilities to charitable agencies, municipalities and different non-profit agencies in all four corners of the county - is the official kick-off of the United Way campaign season. With more ambitious campaign goals in mind this year, United Way organizers say they are hoping for a large turnout to set the weels in motion.

This year’s United Way Day of Caring gets underway from 9 a.m. to noon on Sept. 28. The event - sponsored by NBT Bank, Preferred Mutual Insurance Company, Golden Artist Colors and Frontier Communications - presents local residents the chance to improve their community in a number of different ways while also upholding the United Way’s mission to give, advocate and volunteer.

Day of Caring participants are encouraged attend an early 8 a.m. breakfast, courtesy of Gilligan’s restaurant of Sherburne and hosted at the Norwich High School cafeteria, before taking on various hands-on projects all across the county.

“The Day of Caring is an excellent chance for people to give back,” said Chenango United Way Director Elizabeth Monaco. “We are so excited to be able to do this every year and to provide area residents with a chance to contribute to their local community.”

A total of 17 projects are lined up for Day of Caring volunteers this year that range in types of work, from community beautification tasks to assisting in the field of health and human services. The project list includes work at The Place in Norwich, the CSPCA, Catholic Charities of Chenango County, Friends of Rogers in Sherburne, Save the Sherburne Inn, Cook Park in Greene, the Town of Smithville, Hospice of Chenango County, and the Chenango Arts Council, among several others.