Employees from local businesses volunteered to help United Way partner agencies in a Day of Caring on Friday.

About 250 volunteers on paid absence from their normal jobs assisted partner agencies by doing things such as painting walls, handing out fliers or doing yard work.

The Day of Caring is a kickoff to United Way’s annual fundraiser.

“It’s just a way for business to give back to nonprofits in a different kind of way. Rather than financial, they are giving their time and their talent,” said Lynn Scarlett, marketing director for United Way of Story County.

At one agency, the Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support, volunteers from ISU Foundation and McFarland Clinic helped with yard work, painting projects, cleaning and organizing donations.

ACCESS is a shelter for people who have experienced domestic violence or assault, and serves Story, Boone and Greene counties.

“We aren’t able to do most of these projects as a staff, just because of the amount of time it would take for our small staff to do these things,” said the volunteer coordinator at ACCESS.

“We depend so greatly on volunteers to do things to help make our shelter a better place for the men, women and children who stay here.”

At the Burnett House, where four teenage boys with disablities receive 24-hour care, volunteers from the engineering department painted the living room and one of the boys’ bedrooms.

At the office of YWCA Ames-ISU in the Laboratory of Mechanics, volunteers from the electrical and computer engineering department laughed and joked as they painted a mural around the office wall.

“It definitely livens the week up. It’s something to get out of the research labs,” said Shannon Wanner, graduate student in electrical and computer engineering.

The volunteers at YWCA distributed fliers, posted information and painted the mural.

“Having people to come in and do these extra things, it doesn’t necessarily seem like a lot to them, but for me, it’s huge,” said Sherrie Wolfe, executive director of the YWCA.

The YWCA is an organization devoted to empowering women and the continued promotion of social justice.

The mural, freshly painted on their walls, reads “Eliminating Racism, Empowering Women.”

“You never know when yourself or your family or your friends are going to need the help of one of these organizations that are supported by United Way, so it’s nice to help out those organizations,” said Day of Caring volunteer Jeb Lee, executive director of clinical operations for McFarland Clinic.