Posted 4/17/2007
by Mary Lynn Perry, Volunteer Coordinator, City of Sacramento, Sacramento,
CA USA
I do appreciate what the
POLF is doing and hope it will continue to offer other services
and opportunities. I think the Volunteer Canada site is great and
offers a web banner that anyone can use. I'd like to see us be able
to do that through POLF so we can put those sorts of graphics on
our own web sites. I also like the idea of the ecards which Canada
offers and the volunteer certificates that the UK offers through
their web site as well. Hope those can be done in the future through
POLF.
Posted 4/23/2006
by Ann D'Antoni
Why is it the "nation's" responsibility to celebrate National Volunteer
Week?
I know every year Volunteer Week is in April so when I am setting
up my
calendar for the year I look online (very easily I might add) and
find this
year's date. I then begin making my arrangements for recognition.
Other
national recognition days shift their exact date from year to year,
due to
holidays. I don't see this as the tragedy people are making
this out to be.
My career doesn't even have a formal recognition day, that's ok,
I get a
paycheck!
I make sure we have a
nice luncheon, have posters displayed to remind folks
to remember their volunteers, purchase gifts and have a special
recognition
for those volunteers who go well beyond what anyone would ask. We
even
instituted a volunteer of the month program to recognize volunteers
all year
long. I don't think my volunteers need a Hallmark card to
know we all care
and thank them for what they do. They need us to say the words!
Posted 4/15/02
Submitted by Anthony Sciales, Director of Community Relations, K2Bh.com,
Midcoast region, Maine
As a member of the media, I would like to say that "National Volunteer
Week" makes for good copy if we get it. I can go one step more.
I write a weekly column on volunteerism for this Internet news and
information service dealing with 26 communities. I never saw an
e-mail about the event. For budget constrained organizations, I
would advise sending e-mail notices for a couple of weeks prior
to the event to build up interest and knowledge -- don't tell us
a couple of days ahead of time. I'm actually going to fill with
copy I find on this and other sites. I agree with some of the things
Rita Wiersma said. The national offices have to help out. But locals
should do a better job of scouting around to see what opportunities
exist. Again, from my own experience, I asked people and organizations
to submit a name for volunteer of the week (with the winner getting
a gift certificate for lunch). Only two responses trickled in. So,
I stopped asking.
Posted
4/23/01
Submitted by Gerald (Jerry ) Pannozzo, CVA, Director of Volunteer
Services, Rivington House Health Care Facility, New York, USA
My personal philosophy--tend to your own garden. Therefore, I endorse
volunteer managers/agencies recognizing volunteer during National
Volunteer Week. I look to AVA and Leadership Magazine (POLF)
to identify the dates each year. I promote/market it among staff.
We have a lovely dinner in our staff cafeteria. Volunteers are encouraged
to invite a guest (one person talks about volunteering to another
person, that person talks to another person, etc.), staff are invited,
and the administrator attends.
This year, we have a guest
speaker. Locally we have reaped the benefits of a dedicated group,
NYC/IYV Committee. On April 17th a special section on volunteering
was included in The New York Times and the NYC/IYV Banners
went up city-wide. What is it going to take to get Hallmark Cards
interested? Profit! Currently a variety of companies provide cards,
gifts, etc. Those companies are similar to us--all over the map.
We're in healthcare, museums, sports, environmental causes, social
services, cultural institutions, volunteer centers, faith based
communities, etc. The glass is half full--we are wonderfully diverse.
The galss is half empty--we are split. AVA and IAVE are international.
I think of POLF as national; however, they don't represent the places
I've worked. The national healthcare association doesn't represent
me--my affiliation is local / state (national dues are too expensive).
I don't belong to a national organization advocating with regard
to this month's topic!
Perhaps the cross pollination
that is happening during IYV (like in NYC and via the internet)
will lead to more effective partnering. Then Hallmark will discover--there
is a "profit" to be made! And we'll be prepared to share with them
the "value" of volunteering.
Posted
4/18/01
Submitted by Donna Salin, Assistant Director, Volunteer Resource
Center, Kimball Medical Center, Lakewood, New Jersey
I agree that National Volunteer Week does not get the full attention
(nationally) that it deserves. Wouldn't it be nice (as a volunteer)
to donate your time, talent and energy and know what good company
you are in. Why is this not newsworthy enough to make the headlines?
As an agency that utilizes (and recognizes) volunteers, we use National
Volunteer Week to celebrate the contributions our volunteers make
to our organization and to gain recognition and appreciation from
staff members. What is missing from National Volunteer Week is the
national (and perhaps global) appreciation of the positive impact
volunteerism makes every day! It will take more than local DOVIAS
to bring this to the attention of every citizen. This needs to be
an effort that starts at the top and gets disseminated down the
organizational chart. We'll need more than a proclamation from President
Bush applauding the efforts of volunteers nation-wide. We need good
national press and lots of it!
Posted
4/17/01
Submitted by Audray Landrum, Program Manager , Texas
It just took me over an hour...... and I'm pretty internet savvy,
to find the theme and logo for our NATIONAL Volunteer Week! All
the focus is on the International Year of Volunteers and that's
nice, but gracious! Why is our week in this country buried so deep
or non-existent? AND, why are the websites for Volunteer Weeks '99
& 2000 still posted? That really doesn't convey the message that
we'd prefer as volunteer managers......
Posted
4/16/01
Submitted by Paula Diehl, Director, Membership Services, Indianapolis
Ambassadors, Indiana
I belong to an Organization in the Indianapolis Area that's main
purpose is to support the growth and development of the city through
volunteerism. This week, we have been fortunate to receive some
accolades from various Non Profit organizations that have benefited
from our help. But, it is true that it has not been a huge push
to receive credit where credit is due. THANK YOU to all of you out
there who give of your time, elbow grease and sometimes own money
to help others. We are all better for it!
Posted
4/13/01
Submitted by Norma S. Gindes, Director , Voluntary
Initiatives, New York State, USA
I am pleased to report that Directors of Volunteer Services in health
care in New York City care. These individuals who manage large and
small volunteer programs in hospitals and nursing homes throughout
the five boroughs are using National Volunteer Week to recognize
and honor their incredible volunteers. I know this because as the
Director of Voluntary Initiatives at the United Hospital Fund, a
health services research and philanthropic organizations whose mission
is to shape positive change in health care, I have been invited,
along with our volunteer leaders, to speak at many volunteer recognition
ceremonies in New York City. The ceremonies may not all take place
the week of April 22 to 28, but the spirit of recognizing the unusual
contribution that volunteers make to health care in this city is
in the air in Spring 2001.
The United Hospital Fund,
which represents the 50,000 health care volunteers in New York City,
also held its annual Hospital Auxilian and Volunteer Achievement
Award ceremony on April 2 at the Waldorf Astoria where 94 outstanding
hospital auxilians and volunteers were honored from 53 New York
City hospitals. The theme for the event attended by over 900 people
was "Celebrating the International Year of Volunteers" and Mrs.
Nane Annan, wife of the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
offered her comments on this celebratory year. It was a special
afternoon that highlighted the contribution of health care volunteers
and brought attention to importance of the global IYV celebration.
It also set the stage for the beginning of a series of volunteer
recognition events for health care volunteers throughout the city.
Posted
4/11/01
Submitted by Brian Hartzell, Executive Director, Ronald McDonald
House, Mobile, AL USA
During more than 20 years with the Ronald McDonald House program,
I have encouraged the observance of National Volunteer Week among
our volunteers. It is just another week on the calendar, but one
where we do focus our attention on the role of the volunteer in
our organization and for the benefit of the families we serve. This
observance usually manifests itself with a letter from our Board
president to all active volunteers, some small token of our appreciation,
possibly an informal lunch on one or two of the days together with
that day's volunteers, a volunteer potluck/in-service meeting during
the week and the finale is our annual Spring Cleaning Fling on Saturday.
You are right, however, it is hard to find the dates of the observation
from Points of Light Foundation's Website. I ultimately called our
local Volunteer Mobile, agency supported by United Way, to secure
the correct dates.
Posted
4/11/01
Submitted by Ofi Osin-Cohen , Director, Jewish Volunteer Center,
Miami, FL USA
Amen!!!I think this should be a significant discussion at the IAVA
Conference.
Posted
4/11/01
Submitted by Joan E. Thompson, Executive Director; Mayflower RSVP,
Inc., Massachusetts/USA
Susan, thanks for "National Volunteer Week: Does Anyone Care?" Last
National Volunteer Week: 2000, was like throwing a party - but nobody
came! The Southeastern Massachusetts Volunteer Council (SEMAVC)
mounted a public recognition for NVW:2000 by soliciting gifts, promotions,
and recognition events from local businesses, banks, and service
providers of all descriptions. We assembled a coupon-book for volunteers
totaling more than 100 "Thank You's", ranging from 10% coffee-shop
discounts to $50 Gift Certificates from each of ten branches of
a local bank. All a volunteer needed to qualify for a "Thank You"
was to wear their Red-V ribbon and present the coupon book. Since
we hoped to recognize volunteers from all walks of service (not
just among member agencies) approximately 5,000 volunteers were
thanked with a "Red-V" (designed by each distribution-site) and
the coupon-book.
That bank that offered
$500-worth of Gift Certificates? Five of their branches did not
have a single person walk in and identify themselves as a volunteer!
Most businesses reported fewer than 1/2 dozen volunteers walking
in during the entire week. So where were the volunteers? Lessons
learned: "Volunteers" are NOT a "separate species" - "they" are
"us". Volunteers are employees and customers at each of those generous
businesses. But not a single business thought to open their campaign
to employees or customers - only people who'd had Red-V's & coupon
books sent them by their service-site. This year, we're inviting
businesses to post a "Thank You to Volunteers!" notice throughout
National Volunteer Week - and invite customers and employees to
identify where they volunteer - & receive a "Thank You" gift. The
agency-world of "Volunteers" is too small. We need a reason to identify
ourselves as volunteers to the rest of the world . . .with the assurance
we will be greeted with appreciation and enthusiasm!
Posted
4/11/01
Submitted by Louise Shivers, Coord., Volunteer Services, Monmouth
Medical Center, New Jersey, USA
You are absolutely right! I went to the IYV Web-site and was so
unimpressed! There was nothing for me to "get involved with internationally,
no suggestions, no nothing! And if I order one more mug, I will
die! I did sign-up and join the list of IYV members at least 6 weeks
ago, but to date, I have not received any information or the media
kit that was promised! The volunteer managers in our hospital system,
Saint Barnabas Health Care System, Livingston, NJ, decided last
year to get together at least twice a year and brainstorm issues
and ideas that effect all of us. This year we decided that we wanted
the system to recognize volunteers like they do nurse and doctors
on their special day. A representative of the group contacted the
CEO and asked for an ad to be put in every local paper of all 10
hospitals in the system congratulating the SBHCS volunteers. To
our surprise, he said "YES!" We were shocked, surprised and pleased.
You are right! Volunteer managers need to advocate, lobby and just
plain ask for what we want! Who knows? They might just say yes!
Posted
4/11/01
Submitted by Cassandra Shella, Program Coordinator, RSVP Greater
Cleveland, Ohio
I am a program coordinator for the Retired and Senior Volunteer
Program of Greater Cleveland. We have decided to use National Volunteer
Week as a way to bring awareness of volunteerism to the Cleveland
area and also to thank anyone who has ever volunteered. We have
partnered with two other community agencies and a local professional
organization for volunteer administrators. We are spreading out
over the city to numerous locations to hand out bookmarker, mints
and cards to the general public. The free goodies are a thank you
and an awareness tool . Wish us luck, this is our first time trying
this project!
Posted
4/9/01
Submitted by Nancy Amos, Program Manager, IYV, Volunteer Canada,
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Being just over the border from our American neighbors, it is very
interesting to note the similarities and differences in National
Volunteer Week. In Canada, NVW is very much a community-driven initiative,
supported by materials developed at the national level. With our
proactive partnership with the Government of Canada, Volunteer Canada,
as the national voice of volunteerism in our country, has been able
to provide to our partner volunteer centres across the country many
of the suggestions that you made in your commentary. Just as an
example, we actually have a unique partnership with Hallmark Cards
of Canada to create generic volunteer thank you cards in Canada.
Check them out, along with all the other IYV 2001 material being
produced in Canada at www.iyvcanada.org.
You can also have a look at our materials for NVW 2001 at http://www.volunteer.ca/volunteer/celebrate_nvw_nvw2001.htm.
IYV 2001 has provided a great opportunity to grow Volunteer Week
and volunteerism in Canada.
Posted
4/6/01
Submitted by John Schneider, Vice President , Points of Light, Washington,
DC
In response to your article, National Volunteer Week: Does Anyone
Care?, I thought you might like to know that the Points of Light
Foundation and the Volunteer Center National Network do indeed care
and are fully committed to support National Volunteer Week. While
we would certainly do more given additional funding, here are some
examples of our current support activities:
Our media relations strategy
has always been to develop and provide outstanding promotional materials
to all of our Volunteer Centers so that they can work with the local
media to promote their own activities. As a result, we receive a
large amount of local publicity. While we issue national press releases
and pitch stories to the national media, most of our effort is to
look for local media opportunities. That's where the real stories
are located! Full Response
Posted
4/6/01
Submitted by Rustie Brooke, Mayor's Voluntary Action Center, Founder,
NYC/IYV, New York City USA
It's a good Hot Topic, Susan and thank you for posting it.
As everyone knows, New York City is the first city in the world
to actively and continuously mobilize for IYV. Leading this project
gives me insight and entrée into some of the issues you write
about.
-You are asking folks
to step outside of their own personal agendas.
-You are asking folks to be courageous.
-You are asking folks to risk appearing foolish as they reach past
their comfort levels.
-You are asking folks to question authority Full
Response
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Latasha Johnson, Volunteer Coordinator, YMCA of Middle
Tennessee, Tennessee / USA
I agree 1000%. It would be awesome to have some celebrity endorsements
to bring this "volunteer thing" to the forefront. I am the Volunteer
Coordinator for the YMCA of Middle Tennessee since September 2000
and love my job. We are celebrating National Volunteer Week with
an array of events like Breakfast, Luncheons and a Family Fun Day
at our Camp here in Nashville. But once again, I agree with you
and we, the workers, should stick together to celebrate our volunteers
in the way they deserve.
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Jill Thomsen, Volunteer Coordinator, Peoria Library,
Arizona
I agree, I coordinate a volunteer program at a library and we continually
recognize our volunteers. When NVW has come around I have always
looked for the "big publicity" outside of our library and never
see any. I often wonder why since volunteers are such a integral
part of our society and do so much. I know for a fact our library
could not operate if we did not have such dedicated volunteers.
It would be nice if as a unit we could be consistent in recognizing
this time. Maybe NVW should be moved to a time of the year when
we could maintain a more consistent date.
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Janice McAlpine, Coordinator of Volunteers, Information
Niagara, Ontario, Canada
Thank you, Susan, for addressing an issue that needs attention -
promotion of volunteerism in one's own community, outside one's
agency, through the media. Appearances and announcements on local
cable TV stations and radio stations, and regular articles in local
newspapers (daily, weekly, monthly & bi-monthly) go a long way toward
bringing public recognition to the services that volunteers provide.
These also give us opportunities to advertise positions for volunteers
that are currently available and to profile individuals and groups
which often work behind the scenes, quietly seeing that things get
done. Hearing a story from someone on the receiving end of volunteer
services adds an even greater impact.
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Mary Lou Warren, Director RSVP of Barton County,
Ks
You are so right, I have tried for years to get our community to
celebrate the Week. We have no Volunteer Center, so the RSVP program
tries to coordinate. We had a celebration a couple of years, but
the other agencies said only the "old people" came and they only
came for door prizes. Last year our newspaper did a tabloid on the
first day of the week, but did not contact agencies for input. I
like the suggestion of what volunteers are doing in the community
and I am going to write an article and submit it to the paper and
see if it is published. Thanks
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Sandie Cunningham, Lighthouse Hospice, Volunteer
Coordinator, NJ
I agree wholeheartedly with your statements. Each year we hold a
recognition event for our volunteers during NVW, but it is an internal
recognition. This year I have written letters to the Editor of 4
local papers explaining what NVW is and how the volunteers have
affected our agency. It's a small start, but next year I hope to
do more with better planning and earlier with the media.
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Rita Wiersma, Volunteer Coordinator Justice and
Social System Volunteer Program, Rochester, MN USA
We struggle every year with the same thought. We do a recognition
for volunteers and try to involve local media, but often wonder
if anyone notices. There are so many days for people to take notice
of volunteers that it's hard to pick and choose what is doable for
your organization. The bigger question to me that Susan raises is,
why doesn't our national organizations take the lead on this. We
have a theme, product, but that's about it. If they have media packets
available, they come out too late to utilize. Print is fine, but
visual or audio is what people notice. We need to develop that area.
Truthfully, we've spent a great deal of time on IYV in our organization
and tried to incorporate volunteer week with our local World Fest
feeding off the international focus. I think the trends of volunteering
also has something to do with this issue. Gone are the days of major
recognition dinners and such in our area, people just don't attend.
We need to be more creative in how we celebrate volunteers.
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Lesley Dunn, Executive Director,
Volunteer Resource Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada
A universal date/week for recognition is certainly something to
strive for, however I think the key message is always volunteer
recognition needs to happen 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day.
Do we need bells and whistles? What sets our sector apart from any
other activity is that we engage in activities that multiply happiness
in others. Perhaps that is recognition enough.
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Lori Hoye-Logan, Coordinator of Volunteers Greater
Lakes Mental Healthcare, Washington State USA
One way to show that we do or should care is an open letter to the
editor of your local newspaper. Often, issues have less to do with
caring than ignorance. It is our responsibility as Volunteer Managers
to help educate the public on the amazing possibilities out there
to utilize volunteers. And yes, Susan I shamelessly "borrowed from
you as you suggested to help make my community aware." Thanks
Posted
4/5/01
Submitted by Julie Gillis Lucas, American Diabetes Association,
Austin TX
What a good article. The confusion of dates, times, proclamations
and events make it difficult to know what's where. I agree wholeheartedly
that we need to work with greeting card companies, major sponsors
et al to "nationalize" the event. What role is AVA playing in advocacy,
what else nationally can we do? Let's here more ideas about how
to distill our message and make more of a change.
Posted
4/2/01
Submitted by Margaret Paul, Executive Director, The School Children's
Aid Society, Illinois
The points that you made about National Volunteer Week were good.
I for one didn't know that it existed. What week in April will it
be celebrated this year? You said that the week changes due to Easter
and Passover but forgot to tell us the week it will be observed
this year. I would do my part to make the week a real event at our
non-profit. You are right about the lack of press coverage. I live
in Chicago and none of the papers have been carrying any story on
it.
Note from Webmaster:
Thanks for alerting us to our omission. We now have a link to the
dates from the hot topic.
