Each April across the United States, non-profit organizations of all sorts take some time out to thank the volunteers who have helped their missions throughout the year.
It is an appropriate time because April is springtime, after volunteers have served the needs of others through some incredibly-difficult weather moments and have been available to help throughout the holidays, too. But in fact, there is never an inappropriate time to recognize the efforts of volunteers.
April 16 – 22 is Volunteer Appreciation Week, although many organizations will choose to thank their volunteers in parties, picnics, or gala events at any time of the calendar year.
You hopefully will see many social media posts thanking volunteers and highlighting the many ways that those around you are volunteering. I really do not think any organization can do enough to properly thank their volunteers.
Most individuals volunteer because they have a heart for a particular cause. It could be animal rescue or helping at a hospital welcome station. It could be using natural talents and artistic abilities to create artwork or crafts, or to just bring cheer to another person. It could be helping to provide clothes, from newborns in the NICU, to the elderly, to the poor. There are volunteers who create wigs for those suffering from cancer. There are volunteers planting flowers. Others like to help pull weeds and invasive species of flora in our natural areas. Volunteers teach, share knowledge, prepare tax documents, counsel peers on insurance, raise money, move furniture, hold hands, and sometimes just stay and cry along with those who need compassion.
Volunteers succeed.
The very word volunteer means a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task. The website, Etymology Online offers, a volunteer is “one who offers himself for military service,” from the French word voluntaire, “one who volunteers,” as an adjective, “voluntary,” from Latin voluntarius meaning of one’s free will, noting that Tennessee has been called the Volunteer State since the Mexican War, when a call for 2,800 volunteers brought out 30,000 men. https://www.etymonline.com/word/volunteer
Merriam Webster defines volunteer as someone who undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service while having no legal concern or interest, and as a verb, to offer oneself.
Volunteers truly do offer themselves in amazing ways. Still there are so many who benefit from the efforts of volunteers, but never reach out a helping hand themselves. It boggles my mind. Volunteering is interesting, engaging, and fun!
The sense of fulfillment that comes from just lending a hand makes it worthwhile to those who volunteer. Volunteers enjoy greater community involvement, less isolation, and may achieve better health through physical and mental activities.
In the words of one volunteer, “As long as I am healthy, I like to help other people. This is what life should be like – care for others.” And another, who stated, “I love helping people! I also love the relationships I have made with people I have met. I enjoy putting a smile on people’s faces and making their day better.”
This week service organizations across the country pause to thank volunteers. Take a look around and consider the time and effort, the money, and the consideration that volunteers give in your community. Take a moment to thank them. Take another moment to consider what it would look, feel, and be like, to be one of them. Then consider joining them. You just may feel glad you did.
Barb Nadeau is the mobility & community relations manager for Voluntary Action Center of Northern Illinois, representing five counties. Barb’s career includes many years as a professional television and radio host, as well as a print and social media journalist, and as a volunteer coordination professional, networking among non-profit social service agencies throughout the State of Illinois. She is a free-lance writer and an elected alderman in the City of Plano. Contact Barb at bvnadeau@gmail.com.