Originally Published: September 15, 2023
The United Way of the Midlands hosts Annual Day of Caring event across multiple counties Friday
OMAHA, Neb. —
Hundreds of volunteers came together Friday to help nonprofits in Douglas, Sarpy and Pottawattamie Counties. The United Way of the Midlands hosted its Annual Day of Caring event Friday.
Union Pacific intern Nasteho Mohamud took a break from the spreadsheets to explore the shrubs at the City Sprouts Urban Farm in North Omaha.
“I think it’s really important to be able to give folks kind of an opportunity to get really healthy foods, fresh food,” Mohamud said.
“We could not do our jobs without volunteers,” said Aaron French, the manager of Urban Farm initiatives for City Sprouts.”The folks from UP and United Way are here to kind of help us do some fall cleanup, tearing out plants that are done producing, harvesting plants that are still producing and just getting ready for our fall season.”
French said every volunteer is crucial in fighting the issue of hunger.
“When the food leaves our farm, it goes almost directly to a pantry in North Omaha called Bountiful Harvest where it will sit for a day or two, before it gets distributed to 2 or 300 families who stop by the pantry,” French said.
That impact is made possible by strangers, dedicated to planting seeds of change to nourish communities.
“I don’t think when I got up this morning that I would be able to help someone kind of get some food to their plate that they would not be able to afford otherwise,” Mohamud said.
You can find other volunteer opportunities and make a donation to United Way of the Midlands here.