GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A volunteer event Friday brought together more than 800 people for the Heart of West Michigan United Way Day of Caring.

They worked on more than 80 different projects for 40 organizations in Allegan, Ottawa and Kent counties.

A team of volunteers from PNC Bank helped clean up outside an Arbor Circle youth shelter in Grand Rapids.

“Weeding gardens, we are cleaning up all the exterior, we’re cleaning up the basketball courts. We are here for whatever they want,” Marie Ludwig, a volunteer, said. “We’re the extra set of hands. We’ve got about 30 people throughout West Michigan at a couple different locations."

Ludwig has volunteered as part of the event for many years.

“I think that when you’re more involved in your community, it really not only helps you, but it helps them. It brings the community together,” Ludwig said.

Arbor Circle provides counseling, youth housing and family development services. Its director of community engagement, Janelle Burden Hill, says with the tighter funding climate many nonprofits are experiencing, volunteers are even more crucial.

“We’re tightening our belts and being a lot more resourceful and because of that, volunteer groups that come out, they’re helping us with our capacity… We’re making everything stretch, our time, our resources, and this really helps us to be able to do things that we normally wouldn’t be able to get to,” Burden Hill said.

“These are a lot of projects that (nonprofits) often put to the side, so maybe they don’t have time to tackle these projects or if they were to do it, that would take away time that they spend with their clients or the people that they serve,” Maribeth Groen, the director of public relations and special events, said.

Volunteers like Ludwig say the work is all worth it.

“Things like this that get me out to get with the community, get with my peers that maybe I don’t get to see day to day — it’s really, really something,” Ludwig said.

Heart of West Michigan United Way held a luncheon at Millennium Park later to feed hundreds of volunteers.