National Volunteer Week: Recognizing the Gift of Service

By Robert Goodwin

What if you woke up tomorrow and there were no volunteers?

Your child would have to cross busy intersections on the way to school without a traffic guard. He or she might not have someone available to help with homework after school. No one would be available to clean up your local park or to serve food to the homeless. Your elderly grandmother would have no one to read to her in the nursing home. Most religious activities would cease to exist.

National Volunteer Week provides a great opportunity to think about the value of our volunteers. Sponsored by Target and the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Center, the annual event is the nation’s largest volunteer recognition program in the country. National Volunteer Week began in 1974 when President Nixon signed an executive order establishing it as an annual celebration of volunteering.

During National Volunteer Week 2007, April 15 to 21, Volunteer Centers, nonprofit organizations and corporations held numerous events to recognize the contributions of volunteers in their communities. Some of the outstanding individuals acknowledged this year included:

• Norma Wright of Los Angeles, a Big Sister in the Catholic Big Brothers/Big Sisters’ Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Program. She is fluent in American Sign Language and has introduced her profoundly deaf Little Sister to the deaf community. “I enjoy Norma,” said Ashley. “She makes me feel good about being deaf, and my life.”



• Chicago resident Chloe Lewis is dedicated to serving children with HIV/AIDS. Although she is only 17 years of age, she has served almost half of her lifetime to help secure a healthy start and a healthy future to other young people around the world: in the United States, South Africa and China. “If you stand at a distance, it is impossible to make a real difference,” said Chloe. “Waiting for the world to change only makes us older. For those people in my generation who are struggling simply to live a childhood, there is no time to wait.”



• Elizabeth Carr has made significant improvements to a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C., by collecting donations for supplies and by setting up a Web site for hotel donations to shelters throughout the nation’s capital. After volunteering at the Salvation Army’s Turning Point Center for Women and Children, Carr said, “The people were so excited when I came in and said that I was going to help them. I realized that my work would have an immediate impact on someone’s life.”



• Boston resident Mary McHale co-founded Sancta Maria, a shelter for homeless women, in 1971. She has volunteered at the shelter for at least two nights a week in addition to working at her full-time job for more than 20 years. Residents of the shelter regard Mary as their best friend, who always remember how they like their coffee, what their special needs are and as someone who will keep them safe at night.

About 61 million people, more than a quarter of the entire U.S. population, volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2005 and September 2006, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, volunteers donated an estimated 8.6 billion hours in 2005, equivalent to approximately $161 billion in contributed services. If there were no volunteers, how would we pay for the additional $161 billion in services to mentor the young, feed the homeless and provide comfort to the sick and elderly? Volunteers truly provide a gift of service.