This isn’t the old Tom Sawyer trick: I tell you painting a fence or digging out buckthorn or building a new home is so much fun you’ll want to pay me to do it. Even if it means giving up your prized dead mouse.

In this version of the story, I imagine Tom is the odd man out though. He’s left alone watching as his friends slather each slat like frosting a birthday cake, flick paint brushes at each other for laughs and, in the end, stand back and admire their gleaming handiwork. The best part for the workmates? The smile of delight and gratitude on the face of the person they helped.

You can feel the same joy by joining Rice County’s first-ever Day of Caring, Friday, Sept. 23. Some will call it “the best work day ever.”

Day of Caring is a beloved United Way tradition celebrated all around the globe. The idea is simple: give a little time and effort doing something for someone else. That someone, in this case, will be a nonprofit, school or city within the Rice County area.

If you join in, you’ll devote a few hours to be part of a team helping nonprofits accomplish tasks they don’t have the time, staff or budget to complete.

Take Ruth’s House of Hope. The house located in Faribault is a shelter for Rice County women and children who are often fleeing untenable situations like abuse or homelessness. The staff has wanted its deck stained to create a welcoming respite for residents, but hasn’t had the resources. In half a day on Day of Caring, I’m willing the bet they get that pretty deck.

Or take the Northfield Public Library. It’s planning an “oasis” in the Northfield Community Resource Center as a satellite to the downtown library. In the warmer months, the oasis will even have an outdoor play area – and that’s what you can help to create on Day of Caring.

And there’s more. Lonsdale would like help planting trees. River Bend Nature Center in Faribault would like your help to clear invasive buckthorn. The mobile home parks in both Northfield and Faribault would like help weatherizing homes for winter. Don’t want to get your hands dirty? Healthy Community Initiative would like help stocking Little Libraries with the books they’ve collected.

Faribault’s newly formed “100 Men Who Care” will be out in force. So will Northfield high school students and employees of All Flex, Rebound Partners, Sage Glass, Target Stores and more.

I’ve had families ask if they can pitch in, too, and they can. Teams can be just a couple of people.

How does it work? You sign up your team at ricecountyunitedway.org/day-caring by Aug. 31, telling us what sort of project you’d like to do. We’ll pair you with a project, give you a free T-shirt and snacks, and connect you with a project lead on the Day of Caring.

You don’t even have to pay us with your rusty old jack knife or linty Aldi quarter.

Elizabeth Child is executive director for Rice County Area United Way. You can contact her at elizabeth@ricecountyunitedway.org.

Data included is taken from the Minnesota Department of Health Daily reports. Because all data is preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths.

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