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Community Builders Presents ~ National Volunteer Week
Volunteer Recognition and Promotion
April 27 - May 3, 2008
New release
Volunteerism Has a New Look
By Craig Garceau
The 21st century has seen a rapid change in how we work as a society. Globalization, instantaneous communication, changing family roles and cultural differences affect how the workplace adapts to its employees. Consequently, this changing workplace has also caused change in how volunteers are utilized and what impact they can make.
Experts now embrace a multi-paradigm model of volunteering, which includes the more formalized or traditional avenues of volunteer work, such as volunteering at a church or working at a shelter kitchen; but it also includes a more flexible serendipitous level of volunteers, allowing their contributions to fit within hectic, time-restrictive lifestyles. The flexibility of this model appeals to those who would not normally have the free time to volunteer, allowing volunteer organizations to benefit from skills or knowledge outside of their normal areas of focus.
In addition, there is also a level of volunteering that concentrates on effecting social change. It allows volunteers to concentrate their efforts on some social problem that is of particular significance to them. The last level of volunteering is the entrepreneurial level, where the volunteer is most involved with creating solutions, donating time, raising awareness and financial aspects.
Collette Lemire and Mary Marotta are two examples of how the entrepreneurial volunteer may benefit an organization. Both women, residents of Leominster, were looking for work and approached the Doyle Conservation Center in Leominster, Massachusetts. The Center is part of a statewide collective Trustees of Reservation whose focus is the maintenance and preservation of the 100 properties, campsites, beaches and wildlife areas owned. The area of expertise that they shared was in communications and technical writing. The Doyle Conservation Center was in need of a more efficient modernized communication system. Using their extensive backgrounds, Ms. Lemire and Ms. Marotta compiled a full report that made recommendations for implementing new technology, functionality testing and user ability. Their proposal helped make communications more efficient thereby saving money and time. Had the report been compiled by outside consultants, it would have cost $10,000 or more. The impact of this volunteer effort could be recognized immediately, in terms of dollars saved.
Colette Lemire has also volunteered in the area of meeting management for the Putnam Conservation Institute Training Conference, a two-year conference on conservation. She has volunteered time and expertise in event planning as well, taking part in the upcoming, “It’s About Blooming Time” to be held at the Doyle Conservation Center on May 3, 2008. Mary Marotta has continued her own volunteer efforts by writing a trail guide, “The Trails of Leominster.”
According to Ms.Lemire, each of the different properties owned and managed has unique needs, so the volunteer opportunities are also unique to different conservation areas. She states, “There are no boundaries on volunteers. There are retired people across all age groups.
Since her involvement as a volunteer with the Doyle Conservation Center, Colette has found herself volunteering in another capacity for social change at Elisabeth House in Fitchburg, a halfway house for women in recovery. (rearranged sentence) At Elizabeth House, she conducts workshops on making handcrafts. Making quilts with women in recovery allowed her to “reach out and get up close and personal with people,” as she put it. How does this experience differ from her first volunteer effort with the Doyle Conservation Center? Colette said, “Because of the first volunteer experience, I was not afraid to volunteer again. It took the fear away.” Both volunteer experiences have allowed her to reflect her own values, as part of the Green Movement and as a way to identify with women struggling to re-enter society.
Another volunteer trying to work toward social change is Mary Lejune, a volunteer at Indian Hill Music Center located in Littleton, Massachusetts. The Center’s purpose is to “get children to love and appreciate music,’ says Ms. Lejune. As budget concerns force more and more school systems to eliminate music and art programs from the curriculum, many students who would greatly benefit from exposure to music may not get the opportunity. Mary has volunteered about 10 hours a week for the 11 years that the Indian Hill Music Center has been in operation. She said, “I have always followed the Symphony. I just wanted to keep it going on the local level. I think it’s wonderful!” Her primary volunteer work involves fundraising which is of vital importance, since $35,000 in scholarships is distributed to deserving young musicians each year. (rewrote sentence) The beneficiaries are mostly low-income families, including pre-school through senior high school students. Mary finds the volunteer work “very socially rewarding and fun,” although she prefers the serendipitous form of volunteering, since it is easier to fit into her schedule. In fact, about 50 percent of volunteers could be considered serendipitous.
Wheat Community Services in Clinton, Massachusetts, runs the full spectrum of multi-paradigm volunteering. They operate a food pantry for low-income families, a cafeteria and a store. Volunteers from area churches cook the food and maintain the store. As a social change model, Beth Stuerman teaches a computer skills class to help those in need of becoming more computer literate. Rebecca Osbourne is a successful businesswoman who has helped people fleeing Iraq—people whose lives might be in danger if they were to return. She helps them secure housing, jobs and anything else needed to start life in the United States.
What’s important to understand about all these examples is that they demonstrate that volunteering need not be something that takes away from free time. It can make that free time more enjoyable and worthwhile, because it is shared time with others who have similar interests or concerns. Volunteers often find whatever they give in time, effort or expertise is more than returned in camaraderie, satisfaction and achievement. There are many ways to volunteer, each having its own level of commitment and reward.
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Community Builders National Volunteer Week
Volunteer Recognition and Promotion:
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Volunteerism has a New Look:
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