Labor Day’s arrival signals “are-you-ready-for some-football” time to many Richmonders, but it’s also an abrupt start to the season of another contact sport: community participation. The fall unleashes an onslaught of meetings, conferences, events, board retreats, confabs, and special programs, often competing for attention on the same days and times. Some of us had barely survived the similar spring crunch when summertime landed with the splendor of only a handful of morning meetings and a dearth of dinners and night programs.

Even in the toughest of economic times, we need to remember those with special needs. Our organization, the Greater Richmond ARC (formerly the Association for Retarded Citizens), annually serves more than 1,400 area indi viduals with developmental disabilities and their families. Yet there are almost 2,000 Richmonders with similar disabilities whose needs remain unmet.

In November 2008, when Wall Street and the economy were hitting new lows, our firm, Goodman & Co., announced that it was giving away $300,000. Now, that sounds either terrifically kind hearted or a little crazy. Making it even more puzzling is the fact that Goodman & Co. is a CPA firm. We obsess over every penny—where it’s spent and how it’s recorded.

Richmond’s nonprofits can breathe easy. The City Council is backing off a plan to charge the groups a fee to offset the costs of police, fire and trash-collection services. City Council President Kathy C. Graziano said yesterday that the council will be asked to postpone Monday’s vote on a proposed ordinance that would impose the fee on most nonprofits.

As economic stresses increase, so do stresses on the family—sometimes resulting in domestic violence. The Jenkins Foundation is addressing the issue through grants totaling $85,000 to four organizations that work in the field of domestic violence prevention or treatment: Greater Richmond SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now), Hanover Safe Place, Safe Harbor and Commonwealth Catholic Charities.

A dating auction raised more than $5,000 for the Central Virginia Foodbank. Members of 30s/40s Richmond Singles raised the money. A social group, which regularly volunteers at the Foodbank, auctioned dates with six men and six women at the Capital Ale House in Midlothian during its largest fundraiser last month. The Foodbank can buy one pound of food with every 17 cents, said Tam Evans, the group’s volunteer coordinator for the community. With the proceeds “we can buy 49,000 pounds of food. That’s just mind-boggling that so many children won’t have to go bed hungry.“

The Cameron Foundation awarded grants totaling more than $1.2 million last month to 18 nonprofit organizations serving the Tri-Cities area. “The foundation makes other capacity-building investments in the local nonprofit sector in addition to grants such as these,“ foundation president Handy L. Lindsey Jr. said. “In order to continue serving the community in today’s environment, it is all the more critical that nonprofit organizations fully utilize the resources that are available, and we are mindful of our role as facilitators in this work,“ he said.

Boomer volunteers becoming resource Conference readied to help potential recipients use them A wave of baby-boom-age volunteers is heading to the area. Are nonprofits and government agencies ready to receive their time and talent? How will this potential resource help meet community needs? On Thursday, answers will be shared during a one-day conference for nonprofit and government agency executives, geriatric and health service professionals, volunteer coordinators, and leaders of faith-based and neighborhood outreach programs.

SunTrust, Dominion workers give $2 million to United Way SunTrust Bank and Dominion employees donated more than $2 million to the United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg 2008 campaign. SunTrust Bank employees generated more than $1 million in support for the fifth consecutive year. “At SunTrust, our philosophy has always been, ‘Build your community and you build your bank,‘“ said Gail Letts, president and CEO of SunTrust Bank, central Virginia.

The gift of sight was improved for some area residents this year courtesy of the Virginia Eye Institute’s Cataract Mission. Patricia Bevins of Caroline County was among the 19 patientswho received free cataract surgery last month. “It’s like seeing in HD [high definition],“ Bevins, 55, said.

Editor’s note: This is an edited transcript. To watch the entire Public Square online, go to TimesDispatch.com and type in keywords “Public Square.“  Tom Silvestri, publisher of The Times-Dispatch: This Public Square is a special one because it’s about you. It’s about you and the role of worrying about your community and working in your community.

Six years ago when Anna Hanback was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer, she decided to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. So she organized a bake sale at the Virginia House of Delegates, where she works as the human resource director. The first event raised $500. The next year she added a silent auction. Each year the event grew.

Au pairs from six countries gathered a week ago to stuff bears for youngsters at VCU Children’s Medical Center. As part of a national effort, Cheryl Kircher, AuPairCare area director, and 20 au pairs gathered at the Short Pump Town Center’s Build-A-Bear Workshop to create and donate bears to 32 children. “For a bunch of adults, we had a lot of fun,“ Kircher said.

The troubled economy has pushed many people close to the edge. For those who lose their footing, area charities help soften a rocky landing with an array of free programs and services. But what happens if the lifeline becomes overextended? At a time when unemployment, foreclosures, food prices and bank collapses are on the rise, will donations to nonprofits dry up?

BY JAMES E. UKROP AND CHARLES E. AGEE III Every day in communities statewide, Virginians—from single mothers to working families to widowed elderly—benefit from a wide range of health, cultural, and social services. Consider just a few of the thousands of needs met by a group of independent institutions—Virginia’s nonprofit organizations—that together constitute the state’s second-largest employer: