177 Volunteers Give 500 Hours to La Crosse Nonprofits

When 177 volunteers show up with hammers and hope, homes get built faster.

La Crosse, Wisconsin, just wrapped its 31st annual Great Rivers United Way Day of Caring, bringing together volunteers from 16 local businesses for more than 500 hours of community service. The team tackled 29 projects for local nonprofits in a single day, proving that collective action creates real change.

One crew spent their day at a Habitat for Humanity construction site, hanging drywall throughout an entire house. For projects like this, volunteer power makes the difference between slow progress and real momentum.

"Hanging drywall, mudding drywall, they're all very labor intensive jobs that we really couldn't do without the volunteer labor," said Scott Koenig, construction manager for Habitat for Humanity. His team keeps staff lean by design, which means volunteer days like this move projects forward by weeks or even months.

Alex Lueck, campaign co-chair for Great Rivers United Way, sees each volunteer as a spark. "We're trying to build a stronger community from the ground up," he said. "Having this many volunteers out here helps make a ripple effect."

The Ripple Effect

That ripple is already spreading. Volunteers share their experiences with friends and family, inspiring others to find organizations they want to support. What starts as one day of service can grow into year-round relationships between businesses and nonprofits.

The event also introduces volunteers to causes they might never have discovered otherwise. Someone who shows up to hang drywall might become a monthly donor or regular volunteer, multiplying the impact far beyond a single day.

Great Rivers United Way's fundraising campaign runs through July 24. Every donation of $50 or more enters donors for a chance to win Green Bay Packers tickets, and Men's Game Day Health is matching donations up to $5,000.

When communities invest time and money into lifting each other up, everyone wins.

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