Last week was National Volunteer Week, so hats off to the one in four Californians who contribute their time to volunteer for their favorite nonprofit organizations! The Corporation for National & Community Service estimates that 32 percent of California volunteers choose to donate their time to educational institutions, 30 percent to religious organizations, 13.5 percent to social service organizations, 7.5 percent to hospitals, and the remaining 17 percent to a combination of civic, sports, arts, and other organizations. The top four activities in which California volunteers are engaged are fundraising; the collection and distribution of food; teaching and tutoring; and general labor.
There are numerous reasons why people volunteer. One of the most commonly reported reasons is that it provides an avenue to become more involved in their community and make it a better place to live. Others volunteer to become connected to people in their community, resulting in an increased circle of friends and contacts. Others may volunteer as a way to develop their social skills. Still others volunteer as a way to give back to organizations that helped them when they were in need. Twelve years ago, when Tess Woodbury was just seven years old, her mother died. Tess was devastated and began participating in a peer grief support group at WillMar Family Grief & Healing Center as a way to cope with her loss. Today, Tess is now a WillMar Center volunteer. She said, “As a former kid participant, I really missed WillMar Center, and wanted to give back and now, I love being on the other side of the program. I am able to help kids understand their own grief process and to feel safe.”
In Sonoma Valley, we are fortunate to have a large population of retirees who have enjoyed full, varied careers, and now want to use their skills to serve others in a volunteer capacity. According to Whitney Evans, community leader and Sonoma’s current Alcade, “The opportunity to volunteer with Sonoma Valley nonprofits gives me great satisfaction because I can use the skills and experiences gained during my working years to the benefit of our Valley. It also provides me with the opportunity to work with the very dedicated, talented staffs who make our nonprofits an essential safety net for so many. Two nonprofits I have volunteered with for many years are the Boys & Girls Club that inspires our youth to succeed, and Special Olympics, that provides sports and camaraderie for our athletes who in turn inspire us by their courage.”
Elisa Stancil, vice president of the Board of Directors of Valley of the Moon Natural History Association, the nonprofit organization that now manages Jack London State Historic Park, says she volunteers because it provides her with “the opportunity to truly collaborate with people from differing backgrounds, all to achieve a common purpose.” She added, “The other value of volunteering is that when you think you are giving, you actually come home realizing you have received. It’s magic!” Tim Boeve, volunteer coordinator for the Infineon Raceway Track, stated, “I’ve heard one of my volunteers say that his volunteer day is made when he sees smiles on the faces of those he serves.”
Last year, in honor of National Volunteer Week, UnitedHealthcare and VolunteerMatch (a website that connects individuals to volunteer community needs) released the results of their national Do Good. Live Well Survey of more than 4,500 adults who volunteer. The survey found that 68 percent of those who volunteered reported that volunteering has made them feel physically healthier; 89 percent said that volunteering improved their sense of well-being; and 73 percent reported that volunteering lowered their stress levels. The survey results also indicated that volunteering appears to correspond with higher levels of life satisfaction, including a greater sense of meaning and purpose, and higher levels of optimism. Over 92 percent of the survey respondents claimed that volunteering enriches their sense of purpose in life.
Vintage House, a Sonoma nonprofit serving individuals over age 55, depends on more than 200 volunteers offering over 5,000 hours of their time to implement their ever-growing array of services to Sonoma Valley’s rapidly growing senior population. According to Cynthia Scarborough, Vintage House’s executive director, “The absolute beauty of volunteering locally is that giving of oneself in service helps the volunteer, the organization and its constituents, and ultimately our community as a whole. It’s been well documented that volunteering leads to improvements in several key indicators of health and well-being, resulting from the increased sense of engagement experienced by volunteers. Among the established benefits are lower rates of depression, reduced incidence of heart disease, improvements in functional ability in several areas, and increased lifespan.”
There are many types of volunteer opportunities in Sonoma Valley, with each nonprofit having its unique volunteer needs. Most nonprofits offer new volunteer orientation programs or training sessions to help community members learn about their organization and volunteer positions. Barbara Cullen, executive director for WillMar Family Grief & Healing Center, said, “After completing a rigorous training program, each of our 40 grief support program volunteers shares least 140 hours each year to help over 200 children and teens find healthy ways to progress through their grief, feel safe, and to know that the community supports them. We also have 23 administrative volunteers who help us as directors on our board, as members of our fundraising committees, and as providers of our outreach services.”
To get started volunteering in our community, first ask yourself why you would like to volunteer. Is it to make the world a better place? To meet new people who are different from you? To try something new? To do something in your spare time? To do something at which you excel? To see a different way of life? Another way to get started volunteering is to match your personality and interests with the great number of volunteer opportunities that are available in our community. To narrow your options, determine if you would prefer a volunteer position that enables you to work alone or with people. Assess if you are better behind the scenes or in a more visible role. Identify how much responsibility you want and the amount of time you’re willing to commit to a nonprofit organization. Make a list of the specific skills you can bring to a volunteer position and the skills you would like to develop. Then, find the nonprofit organization that aligns with the causes you personally support.
When you think you have finally found the right organization for you, ask a lot of questions to be sure you’ve found the right match. Ask if you will receive training, what the time commitment will entail, and with whom you will work. Be certain that you know what the organization expects of you. You might consider starting with a small assignment to test the waters and ensure you are not over-committing yourself. If you find that the volunteer experience is not what you expected, speak up and request a change in your focus or consider looking for a better volunteer match for you. Finally, have fun! A volunteer experience should benefit both the volunteer and the organization.
Here’s to a happy belated National Volunteer Week for all of you Sonoma Valley volunteers! And for those of you who haven’t started volunteering yet, what are you waiting for? It will improve your quality of life and the quality of life for all of us in Sonoma Valley.
Dr. B.J. Bischoff is the owner of Bischoff Performance Improvement Consulting, a Sonoma firm specializing in building the capacity of nonprofit organizations and public sector agencies to better serve their stakeholders. She assists her clients with strategic planning, organizational and personnel performance improvement, fund development, and community relations. She is President of Impact100 Sonoma and leads the Sonoma Valley Presidents Council. She serves on the Sonoma Upstream Investments Portfolio Review Committee as an appointee of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. She can be contacted at bjbischoff@bjbischoff.com.
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