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People In Action
By
Joan E. Thompson |
Plymouth
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Commemorating the
one-year anniversary of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America
Act and the Volunteer Generation Fund, the theme for this
year’s National Volunteer Week is “Celebrating People in
Action.” National Volunteer Week, a signature event of
Points of Light Institute, celebrates ordinary people who
take action that contributes to solving problems in their
communities. Mayflower RSVP is Celebrating People in Action
with our first community- wide recognition for volunteers
who demonstrate a Lifetime of Service. Demonstrated by
investing 4,000 hours or more of their own time into helping
others - often engaging others in the effort - 15 Plymouth
County residents will be spotlighted at a reception on April
29th in their honor.
More than one candidate has been reluctant to have the
spotlight shine on them. “But so many others made it happen”
or “It wasn’t just me.” Of course it is rarely “just one.”
But every helping hand first needs to become aware they are
needed. Sometimes the effort of one person helps the rest of
us see and understand the nature and extent of help needed.
Once the activity has begun, it can become easy to lose
momentum or the collective will to keep it going. At times
the effort of one person helps re-energize or attract the
new “blood” needed to keep up the activity. Occasionally the
most helpful action is to encourage others to take the reins
– and cultivate emerging new leadership. And then there are
those who infuse the volunteer spirit into their paid work:
the teacher who takes the extra time to spend one-on-one
time with a struggling student; the bank manager who takes
on community service in the name of the business – then
keeps on volunteering long after leaving the job. It’s not
just about the number of hours volunteers serve. It’s about
how they serve others in varying ways throughout their life
that help insure what is needed gets done.
RSVP has been providing Presidential Lifetime of Service
Awards since becoming credentialed to present them in 2004.
We’ve presented more than 100 awards since then mostly on
behalf of organizations who could confirm their
candidate-volunteers had served at least 4,000 hours within
their own organization.
For the first time this year, RSVP is sponsoring an event
that recognizes Lifetime of Service volunteers who have
served a variety of causes; initiatives from within church
congregations, professionals who took their licensed
credentials into the volunteer sphere, people who might live
right next door to you who coach youngsters, bring meals to
the home bound or rides to people of any age who need help
getting around. Join us next month when these Models of
Community Spirit will be featured in this column.
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About The Author
Joan
Thompson is the Executive Director for Mayflower RSVP, Inc.,
a non-profit organization mobilizing Volunteer Service
Activities in Plymouth County. She has directed RSVP’s
Retired & Senior Volunteer Program for nearly 30 years,
working with 200 public/private, health, human service, and
educational organizations to provide meaningful volunteer
service opportunities for members in the RSVP program. She
is a trainer in Volunteer Systems Management for local and
national organizations and a member of AVA, the
international Association for Volunteer Administration. She
may be contacted at RSVP’s Plymouth County headquarters via
telephone at (508) 746 -7787 or by email at MayflowerRSVP@
Verizon.net.
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