MUSCATINE, Iowa–Though individual employers have supported the United Way of Muscatine in the summer by holding private Intern Days of Caring or similar events, no one had ever brought all the interns in the city together to amplify their impact. As the number of interns in Muscatine each summer continues to grow, Community Engagement Manager Hilary Henke came up with the idea of holding the first official Intern Day of Caring. By working with Rebecca Paulsen from the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Henke reached out to Bayer of Muscatine, KENT Corporation, HNI, and Muscatine Power and Water to bring interested interns together for their very own Day of Caring June 29.
A unique opportunity for interns to get to serve the community they find themselves in for the summer, 73 interns took up the challenge of giving the Intern Day of Caring a try. Throughout the course of the morning on June 29, interns assisted with 19 different projects, which included reading to children in Muscatine Community School District’s S. P. A. R. K., selling fireworks at the Muscatine Center for Social Action fireworks tent, assisting Rebuilding Together of Muscatine with ramp building and home cleanup projects, volunteering at the Muscatine Community Y, cleaning up at Riverfront Park, organizing supplies at the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, and doing yardwork at Musserville United Methodist Church.
Interns found the chance to give back to their host community a positive experience and a fun change of pace. Maya Argenta, a senior studying industrial design at the University of Iowa interning at HON’s Allsteel who grew up in Maple Grove, Minnesota, appreciated the chance to bond with other interns and to meet more Muscatine residents. She explained she liked, “just getting to spend time with my new friends and helping out and getting to see more of the city.”
Mike Hippleheuser, a graduate student at the University of Iowa studying law interning at KENT Corporation who grew up in Lockport, Illinois welcomed the chance to truly help someone who needed it. ” I’m new here in this internship, and it’s good to make ties in this city I find myself homed in this summer,” he said, “While I liked helping the riverfront, it was nice to go to someone’s house and pull all the weeds; he was very thankful and sweet and even gave us ice cream.”
A popular event for both interns and the people they helped, Henke says United Way plans to make the Intern Day of Caring an annual event.
