VOLUNTEER SHOWS HOW SMALL ACTS OF KINDNESS MAKE A BIG IMPACT

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Carolyn Dundee. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Carolyn Dundee always made sure her two young daughters got lots of volunteer experience. But when it became clear that many of their elementary school peers had never volunteered before, Carolyn knew it was a prime opportunity to get all ages involved in helping others.

In 2012, Carolyn founded Small Acts Big Change, an organization whose mission is to create a better world through volunteerism. Using a community-centered approach to social responsibility, conservation and activism, volunteers learn how significant even the smallest acts of kindness can be. From young schoolchildren to seniors, everyone is encouraged to participate in acts of kindness, building self-esteem throughacts of service and developing compassionate leadership skills.

While her daughters are now 20 and 25, Carolyn’s passion for finding ways to engage the community hasn’t waned one bit. She dedicates around 70 hours a week to her role as president and executive director of the organization, for which she is not compensated. From developing and running the volunteer programs to recruiting and training volunteers, Carolyn spearheads each initiative with passion and purpose. But she also sees Small Acts Big Change as a bridge to working in tandem with other organizations, and building strong partnerships with schools, nonprofits and shelters is an essential component of her role. Boasting a collaborative spirit, Carolyn frequently works alongside other organizations like the Living Beauty Cancer Foundation and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services.

Each job the SABC team tackles may seem small, but they amount to great change. Over the years, Carolyn has hosted events that removed more than 200,000 pieces of trash and fed meals to 18,000 shelter pets. She’s planted 4,000 trees and provided 8,500 meals to food-insecure individuals. Last year, the Small Acts Big Change team made 16,000 Valentine’s Day cards that were distributed to seniors in care centers. Carolyn devoutly believes that compassion isn’t measured by size. Instead, she believes that it’s measured by small acts that have the power to change a life. Her faith in the ability to help others through small acts is a strong example of volunteerism’s spirit.

I’ve always been a person who’s aware of what’s around me. If I see someone who seems hungry, I will help them get food. If I see litter, I’ll pick it up. If I see an animal that’s injured, I would never walk away. We help the animal. I feel strongly that if everybody can just be aware of what’s going on around their area and do their small part to help, the world will change.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

Our family used to vote every year on a volunteer project. We’d have a family meeting in December, and then we’d vote on what kind of project we’d work on. By the time they got to elementary school, the kids were quite well-versed in volunteering. My youngest daughter, who was 7, was talking about volunteering at school. She marched into the headmaster and said she wanted to bring the project to school. I think we planted flowers for seniors at a local nursing home. Then we did another project the next month, and before we knew it, we had a school-wide initiative. We decided, as a family, to start this nonprofit in 2012. We started in the schools doing projects to help animals, to help the earth or just anything that would get the kids excited and volunteering. It just grew from there.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Small Acts Big Change.

I’m the founder and executive director, which is a volunteer role that’s about 70 hours a week. I’m fortunate to be able to do this. I’m doing everything from community outreach to coordinating any in-kind donations. We coordinate with the community center and with donation partners to get the supplies donated. We make sure events are publicized and get volunteers signed up. I also handle fundraising, donor relations and day-to-day operations to ensure long-term sustainability and impact.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

Our mission is to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to volunteer. No matter your age, your ethnicity or your socioeconomic background, everybody has opportunities to volunteer. We’ve grown to about 100,000 volunteers right now from a grassroots organization. The long-term goal would be to make sure that we become an organization worldwide where people have an opportunity to help others.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

The most rewarding part is seeing people who didn’t have an opportunity to help others get the chance to do so. You take these children when they’re very young, and the empathy and the compassion become a part of their lives. The goal would be, as they move into professional positions, that they take this empathy and this learning that they’ve had and make decisions based on that, so it’s not all based on the bottom line, the money. You’re making executive decisions with compassion and people in mind. These children come back and have such great awareness, and then they feel so good about themselves that they want to continue to do it. It’s getting that one person to help with what’s in front of them. If we can just continue to grow that, the world changes.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

There are just so many good people out there. It goes back to what you see on the news every morning. While people are hungry and unhoused, there are so many good people out there. Everybody, for the most part, really wants to help and make a difference. They just may not have the tools or the way to do it. It doesn’t have to be massive. You don’t have to solve world hunger. You just have to take a step to help what and who is in front of you.

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.

We have so many fun things coming up. We do at least one major event each month, and we have stuff scheduled for the rest of the year. One of my favorite projects we do is partnering with the Living Beauty Foundation, which supports women who have cancer. It’s one of our biggest projects. We do it in December, and we bring people in from all over to pack kits for the women. It’s a wonderful project that brings people together.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

I think anybody can do it. You don’t have to do something huge or monumental to make a difference to change a life. Kindness starts within. Volunteering starts within. Just do one moment or one act. I strongly believe that’s how real change begins.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Carolyn? Find local volunteer opportunities.