Thursday the United Way of West Central Mississippi will send an army of volunteers into the community to spread caring.

Day of Caring, the United Way’s annual volunteer event, will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Vicksburg Mall on Pemberton Square Boulevard. From there, volunteers will perform work for the chapter’s partnering agencies. In 2014, 175 volunteers offered services estimated at over $150,000 to the agencies, United Way officials have said.

“The Day of Caring is when different companies go out and volunteer in teams for our participating agencies or other agencies,” said Kristen Meehan, director of marketing and community relations for the organization.

Working in teams during the day promotes team building for the volunteers and allows volunteers to bond with those they help.

“Also Day of Caring is a great opportunity for businesses to use the day for team building. Many employees who participate with their respective businesses return year after year to work together on a service project,” Meehan said. “They look forward to it, plan for it, and some even take personal leave to volunteer for it.”

Last year volunteer Michele McMahon volunteered at the Shadow Apartments for the sixth year.

McMahon, who works at HMI Buying Group, said there are five or six volunteers who have gone with her to the Shadow Apartments and said, “we all love it. We’ve bonded with them.”

Once companies see the impact they make in the community they want to volunteer more.

“It’s a special day for United Way. It not only shows our volunteers the great agencies we work with, but it reminds us all how volunteering for a day of community service enhances where we live,” Meehan said. “This event brings us together and connects us to a variety of programs that help us to thrive and make a difference.”

“It’s a great service project,” McMahon said previously, “ they all come and show up and we interact with them one on one. I just see how much they appreciate it, and I just enjoy making a little bit of a difference for them.”

“Out of all of our events, this is the one that is loved the most by many of our volunteers,” Meehan said.

Volunteers will work on a variety of projects from a day of games with seniors, delivering meals to seniors, planting, building and even IT help. There are a variety of projects planned for Thursday that will benefit agencies in the agencies service area.