Friday marks the first National Day of Service and Remembrance, a way to honor the anniversary of September 11 by volunteering to help the community.

In Seattle, hundreds of volunteers will connect with people who are homeless or facing poverty in a day-long event at Quest Field. About 90 organizations are offering free services, from haircuts and dental work to help applying for jobs, housing, food stamps and veterans benefits.

CURT NAKON

People get free haircuts during United Way's Community Resource Exchange, a day when dozens of local non-profits gather to provide free services for homeless people.
.

The United Way of King County decided to hold its biannual Community Resource Exchange on the first National Day of Service, meant to encourage more volunteering and support for non-profits. Hundreds of projects are planned throughout King County on Friday, and more than 8,000 people have volunteered to work on them. Details can be found here.

The Community Resource Exchange, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Quest Field, gives people a central place to find help, relax, eat and socialize with others, said United Way spokesman Jared Erlandson. The non-profit expects to serve at least 1,000 needy people at the event, which is open to the public.

"Instead of having to navigate the gauntlet of services -- when they're spending so much time just trying to survive -- finding them all in one place is really valuable," he said.

The national day was established earlier this year as part of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. People can get ideas and share their own volunteer plans at this site.

On any given night in King County about 8,500 people are currently homeless, and over the course of a year, about 24,000 people have been homeless for some period of time, according to the United Way.

In another volunteer event Friday, the Jubilee Women's Center is getting a vegetable garden built by 25 Microsoft employees. The center provides low-cost housing for homeless women trying to get back on their feet. I visited the center a few months ago and met one of the residents, a woman who had fled an abusive husband and was working her way through law school.

They regularly receive canned food, but the garden will fill a big void in fresh produce. Local businesses donated the soil, seeds and building materials.