Every Wednesday for three years, Julie Bearup has been volunteering to help kids at Denver’s Fairview Elementary work on their reading skills as part of the Power Lunch program.
“By volunteering here I’m able to help children, especially the child I read with every week, learn how to read hopefully so he’ll be able to read later on in life,” she told Denver7.
Bearup became involved in the program through her work with the United Way, one of the nearly 20 organizations being given the chance to reward some of their top volunteers this month with a gift card thanks to US Bank and Denver7.
As you might expect, Bearup’s involvement with the United Way expands well beyond the Power Lunch program. She’s volunteered for many of the groups the organization supports. In fact, her own curiosity has led to a program that brings donors to the groups their money helps and some of the donors are now volunteers.
“I was able to go on site visits to some of the organizations the United Way supports and I got excited about it. I thought if I’m interested in knowing what these organizations do I’m sure others are to,” Bearup explained. “Now every month we take a bunch of women on ‘lunch and learn’ where we visit a number of organizations that the United Way supports and see what they do in our community.”
Bearup says it’s the people you come into contact with while volunteering that make the time commitment worthwhile.
“People should volunteer because it opens your world to amazing opportunities and things you didn’t even know was going on in your little world. By doing this you will be able to expand your horizons and give back to your community and yourself.”
Check out the United Way’s website for more information on the many organizations they support and to learn how you can volunteer.