Over 700 volunteer for Day of Caring
Published 6:00 am Thursday, July 24, 2025
As she sorted non-perishable food for local domestic violence victims, Erin Petty, a recovering addict who’s 15 years clean, recalled her time at a recovery home.
She had dropped out of high school, and at one point lost both her children to foster care. Then, she went through a recovery home — and built her life from there. These days, she works as a group leader for the local General Motors Corvette assembly plant — and on Wednesday, was one of about 20 from GM’s workforce volunteering at the nonprofit Barren River Area Safe Space, which serves and advocates for victims of domestic violence.
“I like to give back for what was so freely given to me,” she said.
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The nonprofit United Way of Southern Kentucky was holding its 17th annual Day of Caring, where Petty was one of about 740 volunteers working on 65 projects regionwide, according to Erin Caudill, community engagement manager at the nonprofit.
“Without volunteers, these projects would not get done or would cost a lot of money to get done from the nonprofits,” Caudill said.
UWSK coordinated with 58 companies and nonprofits that supplied the volunteers, with the projects benefiting about 35 nonprofits across Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Simpson and Warren counties, according to Caudill.
Nonprofits submitted their needs to UWSK in the months leading up to July 23, and UWSK matched them with organizations whose missions meet those needs, summed up Elizabeth Newbould, UWSK’s marketing and communications specialist. These were a wide array of projects — from an artwork installation at Buchanon Park, to flower deliveries for residents at Hospice of Southern Kentucky and Chandler Park Assisted Living, to cleanup at Little Scholars Playground.
“Whatever needs they may have,” Newbould summed up.
Compared to last year, the day had a similar number of volunteers, Caudill said. There are fewer projects this year, she added — but that’s because UWSK this time focused more on placing volunteers at hands-on projects rather than donation drives. As a result, organizations this year adopted a higher percentage and number of hands-on projects, with just one going unadopted by an organization — a far higher project adoption rate than last year, according to Caudill.
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As of late Wednesday morning, the day was going great, Caudill said.
At BRASS, the volunteers split into two groups to conduct what the organization Operations Coordinator Robert Chinn described as “a wholesale overhaul of donations.”
The nonprofit offers a crisis line providing victims of domestic violence support such as assistance with protective orders and safety planning to leave abusive situations, BRASS Director of Grants and Operations Cindy Mace said. It also has a 31-bed shelter where, once people enter, BRASS provides “basically everything they need to survive,” Mace said: food, transportation, soap, shampoo, conditioner, and so on. Once victims’ immediate and critical needs are taken care of, BRASS looks at housing options, she said.
On Wednesday, some volunteers decluttered and organized donations, especially clothes, outside, while another group, alongside Petty, sorted food in the basement.
The biggest impact of the volunteering is that it allows trained staff to spend more time focusing on advocacy, Mace said.
“That’s more time that they can spend one on one with clients, helping them get signed up for SNAP or medical coverage, helping them look for jobs,” she said. “Things like that.”
It also makes retrieving items for domestic violence victims — accounting for their gender, age and size — easier, Chinn said.
“If advocates can come in and go right to what they need, then (for) the mom and the three kids that come in who are only wearing maybe their pajamas, that advocate is going to be able to come in here and within 10 minutes have some clothing options for them,” Mace said.
It also allows BRASS to better track inventory and account for space limitations, according to Chinn. BRASS is gathering less-used donations, such as bathing suits or holiday-themed apparel, to send to another community organization, Mace said.
The best way to donate is to call the main line at (270) 843-1183. High-need items include new clothing, including shoes and undergarments, Mace said. Other big current needs, she added, are shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant and other personal care items, which they go through very quickly. Some organizations, such as churches, donate cooked or catered meals, which is also very helpful, she said.
Petty, from GM, added that she was previously a victim of verbal domestic abuse — one she, at the time, couldn’t break free from. She could also recall dropping off a woman at a police station around a decade ago, and seeing her taken to BRASS.
“It means a lot to me,” she said of BRASS’s work. “These women here, they have a good spot to where they can build their life from here, they’re safe, they’re not in harm’s way.”
She reflected on the cause, and the day.
“It’s close to my heart.”
Horowitz reports for the Daily News via a partnership with Report for America.
