In the Fall of 2012, Holy Cross junior roommates Jeff Reppucci and Derek Kump decided that they wanted to step outside their campus gates and learn a more about the greater city of Worcester, MA. Thus, the inspiration for W4W was born: Reppucci and Kump launched an organization dedicated to mobilizing college students to improve recreation infrastructure and opportunities within neighborhoods across the city.

On the first Build Day, Reppucci and Kump yet assembled close to 540 volunteers across 12 community recreation sites assisting the construction of 2 new playgrounds, 4 new basketball courts, a dance studio, a baseball field, a teen recreation room, a food pantry, a school cafeteria, new walking trails!

With Reppucci and Kump graduated from Holy Cross, their long distance love for Worcester blossomed. Headed up by Colette Houssan, W4W only grew stronger reinvesting $100,000 into 3 playgrounds, 1 baseball field, 5 basketball hoops, and so much more!

In 2019, Working for Worcester had evolved into so much more, it had become a day to celebrated across all of the community members! At this point, almost 1.2 million had already been invested into the city of Worcester's recreational infrastructure.

With the Managing Team trying to navigate getting sent home from school, Build Day was unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the team raised $23,240.59 for the Worcester Together COVID-19 emergency response fund!

After a year with no playgrounds, Build Day Year 9 was faced with over coming the rapidly evolving Covid-19 pandemic, creating a Covid-Tzar role to monitor health trends. Nonetheless, 2 playground still managed to be built, albeit the smiles covered with masks!

With the smiles in full display, Build Day Year 10 marked the first "normal" event in almost three years. With 1,200 cheery volunteers gathered at Worcester City Hall, W4W managed to build it BIGGEST PLAYGROUND EVER!