Thursday was an unconventional workday for many Quad Citians, who traded their button downs and keyboards for volunteer shirts and gardening gloves as part of United Way's Day of Caring.
The 16th annual service day brought together about 1,600 volunteers to work on 90 different projects throughout the community.
Mike Smith oversees volunteers at his organization Hand-in-Hand, a non-profit that provides services to disabled children and adults.
"Certainly we get some projects done, we get some extra care for our children, but all the volunteers alk away knowing a little bit about what we do and they also see the abilities of our children, not just the disabilities so that's a big win for everybody."
About 12 volunteers worked on the playground and helped care for children at Hand in Hand in Bettendorf.
Nikki Junker, who volunteered through her company John Deere, says she'll leave with at least one takeaway:
"That I'm glad that there's people to do this work, because I don't know if I could do it for very long. I don't have kids so to have this many at one time is overwhelming."
But Junker was one of many volunteers who said that learning about Hand-in-Hand was the best part of the experience.
Morgan Maddox of Davenport volunteered in the mixed-ability daycare center.
"I wanted to know how the care would change with someone with disabilities and how they cater to them, and to see how a child with disabilities plays perfectly along with others. I also wanted to learn how to care for a disabled child in case I have to in the future."
Other participating sites included Cafe on Vine in Davenport, Community Action of Eastern Iowa, and the YWCA of the Quad Cities in Rock Island.
Volunteers consisted of teams from nearly 50 companies. United Way's Day of Caring is sponsored by John Deere and Arconic.