Aurora caregivers sort food donations, beautify grounds in Elkhorn
Aurora Health Care’s latest Weeks of Caring volunteer effort focused on feeding children and families in need. More than 600 caregivers volunteered at sites across Aurora’s service area last month, including Walworth County.
“Hunger affects people across Wisconsin, and children often struggle more with hunger in the summer months, when they are not in school,” said Vivian King, Aurora vice president of community relations. “Encouraging our caregivers to volunteer at hunger relief organizations can help raise awareness of this important issue, while helping tackle hunger in our communities.”
Caregivers volunteering during Weeks of Caring organized donations and stocked shelves at local food pantries. In some areas, they also helped prepare and serve meals at local shelters and meal programs, including at the kickoff of the Salvation Army’s Feed The Kids summer meal program.
While hunger was a primary focus, caregivers also volunteered with Aurora Health Care Better Together Fund grant recipients and other nonprofit organizations to help with office tasks, cleaning and painting and other beautification projects. At the Open Arms Free Clinic in Elkhorn, volunteers helped beautify inside and outside.
The Better Together Fund has granted $15 million in cash and in-kind support over two years to organizations across eastern Wisconsin, helping improve access to primary care, behavioral health services, and sexual violence prevention and treatment programs.
“The Better Together Fund is about building relationships with these groups and organizations that serve the most vulnerable in our society,” King said. “Offering these opportunities is a great way to strengthen our collaboration with them by helping to support their work, while shining a light on the good work our caregivers do all year long.”
The Aurora Weeks of Caring program, a quarterly organized volunteer effort, builds on Aurora Health Care’s longstanding tradition of community service. In 2016, Aurora caregivers contributed more than 1,200 hours to local organizations through Weeks of Caring.
The first event this year, held in January, focused on blood donation, and included nearly 700 caregivers donating blood at many Aurora locations. The second effort, in February, celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday during Read Across America when nearly 300 caregivers went into schools and after-school programs to read to students. The next Weeks of Caring will be held Sept. 25 through Oct. 1.
