United Way of Forsyth County’s cup runneth over with volunteers for the upcoming Day of Caring.

About 450 volunteers will begin Sept. 10 bright and early with a 7:30 a.m. breakfast program featuring keynote speaker and involved volunteer David Whittaker.

“We will have clients, folks who have been helped by the agencies, and they’re going to tell their stories,” said Ruth Goode, executive director.

The response from volunteers has exceeded the number of projects. As a result, no additional help is needed for the event.

Goode said the volunteers will spend the day working with 30 various county agencies. They will be gardening, cleaning, reading to children, organizing and mentoring.

In previous years, volunteers met back up for lunch, when they would hear from guest speakers. But this year, Goode said things are a little different.

“We’re trying to cut costs so we’re just going to have a big breakfast,” she said. “I just felt like the one event would be a little more cost effective than two events.”

Among the volunteers are several corporations, including 140 people from AT&T and 70 from UPS.

“I think the companies are really rallying and understanding that there’s a lot of need in the community,” Goode said.

“They have really driven up the number of projects, which has been good.”

The Day of Caring has served as kickoff of sorts for the local United Way's annual fundraising campaign.

Last year, the organization raised about $1.38 million, about $30,000 above its goal and ahead of 2008, when the effort felt the effects of the sluggish economy.

While 2009 was a success, Goode said she’s being cautiously optimistic about the 2011 campaign.

There will be an internal goal, but “it may not go up by much, since we’re still uncertain.”

“But we have to cover the programs and initiatives that we’ve got going,” she said. “So it will be at least what we had last year.”