This month, YouthCare welcomed volunteers from organizations around the community for their dedicated ‘Days of Caring’.

Group of volunteers

Volunteers from Expedia showed up in full force to spruce up two of YouthCare’s community living programs. These volunteers deep cleaned the kitchens, which are focal points of community building for youth who call these spaces home.

After completing the project, one Expedia volunteer shared her own experiences with homelessness, recognizing the need for spaces to cater specifically to youth: “When I was young, no place like this existed.”

We welcomed teams from Casey Family Programs and Microsoft to participate in United Way’s Day of Caring, held annually. These volunteers built bedroom furniture for ten residents at YouthCare’s Isis at Ravenna House. Isis focuses on the unique needs of LGBTQ+ youth and allies.

One Isis youth resident peeked around a corner into his bedroom as volunteers finished setting up his new room. Pointing at a new dresser in the corner of their room, the young person said, “This looks amazing! Do you mind if I touch it?”

In that moment, we were reminded of the power of having pride in one’s space, and how impactful it can be to simply break in a new mattress—a piece of furniture that feels truly yours.

Volunteers building furniture

Unico Properties spread out across the U-District to take on projects at three of our programs. We learned quickly that these volunteers came ready to work, whether it was organizing our youth supply space at our main office, deep cleaning bathrooms and kitchens at our Adolescent Shelter, or installing what will soon be a beautiful youth mural at our University District Youth Center!

VolunteersDOC

We are so excited about the opportunity to highlight one of our incredible youth artists  specializing in creating vibrant murals from our POC Street Arts Program at UDYC.

Thank you to our amazing volunteers, our incredible staff who support our programs, and our youth residents who graciously shared their spaces with us!

Is your workplace interested in helping us with a project? Check out or Group Volunteer Opportunities to learn more!