Dustin Winter/RMU

As has become an annual cherished tradition, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, or RMU, employees joined hundreds of volunteers to provide community service during the United Way of Utah County’s 2025 Day of Caring on Sept. 11.

For the third consecutive year, RMU staff, faculty and administrators spent that bright Thursday morning assisting the Now I Can Foundation in Orem by completing a long list of cleaning and maintenance tasks inside and outside of the intensive physical therapy center.

“RMU comes in here like a great tornado of goodness and energy and gets so much stuff done,” said Now I Can co-founder and Executive Director Tracey Christensen. “I take this community for granted sometimes. It really is remarkable, and the United Way is definitely an amazing contributor. As a small charity, we just don’t have a lot of people, so to have a group from the community come and transform the place in a day is so awesome.”

While young patients received treatment, the center’s walls were freshened up with a fresh coat of blue paint; toys and equipment were sanitized; windows, bathrooms, counters and floors were scrubbed; and trees, bushes and lawns were trimmed and tidied up.

“Our why is to love and lift, and our president (Dr. Cameron K. Martin) leads by example, so he asked us to come out as staff members, love and lift in our community, serve and do things to help others,” RMU Foundation Senior Executive Director Jeffrey Fisher said while doing yardwork “Seeing the smiles of these kids and watching them move around in their equipment and walk, it’s an honor to help them.”

Dustin Winter/RMU

RMU employees were among volunteers from more than 50 businesses and organizations throughout Utah County who worked on 93 service projects at local community centers, parks, gardens, gathering places and schools.

“It’s a great day and reason to get out and help each other,” Fisher said.

As usual, the annual Day of Caring event coincided with the National Day of Service and Remembrance.

“This is a front-row seat to what makes Utah County strong,” United Way of Utah County Board Chair Jeanette Bennett said in a statement. “When you see a CEO, a student and a retiree working side by side to repaint a playground or deliver supplies, you see the next generation learning that kindness and connection are the real innovations.”

The events began with an early pancake breakfast and a heartfelt program at the Nu Skin headquarters in downtown Provo. More than 1,500 volunteers from various Utah County organizations then dissipated to spread kindness and help with projects where needed — from reading to students and painting playground games at elementary schools to sprucing up the sites of nonprofit organizations and building small outdoor libraries.

Dustin Winter/RMU

RMU’s Amy Seamons, a nursing clinical placement coordinator and recruiter, was thrilled to hear that she had a personal connection to Now I Can. Years ago, her friend’s son benefited from the services offered at the intensive physical therapy facility.

“It’s immense how much he’s changed and how much this facility helped him,” Seamons said. “When I heard it (the volunteer work) was for here, I was very excited — and it’s always great that RMU can represent the university in a positive way.”

Now I Can has helped children with disabilities, developmental delays and neuromuscular challenges reach their potential and increase their independence for nearly 20 years. It was founded in 2006 by Tracey Christensen and her husband, Joel. They modeled it after an intensive physical therapy clinic in Poland that helped their daughter, Colby, overcome challenges she faced with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

During a typical three-week session at Now I Can, young patients (mostly ages 2 to 6) from around the country gain developmental skills while working with specially trained therapists — including students from RMU, Brigham Young University and other local schools — for four hours a day, five days a week. Some local patients come for weekly physical therapy.

Thanks to donations, Now I Can is able to provide grants to some families who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford the therapy.

Dustin Winter/RMU

“We’re in an amazing place now with great people. It’s really good,” Christensen said. “We’re glad to be here and grateful for the community support and for the patients and parents that we love.”

The Day of Caring partnership with RMU fits like a glove because of the love-centered missions and purposes of the facility and the graduate healthcare institution.

“To think that’s happening and being replicated out in the community in so many different places is pretty awesome,” Christensen said. “It’s great for (volunteers) to sacrifice a day to do that. We really appreciate it — especially after our tragedy in the community (on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University). To have a bright day of goodness and caring, it does feel really good.”

Jody Genessy is the senior content writer for Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions.