With everything going on in the world right now, it might seem strange to stop and celebrate, but that’s what we want to do this week. We want to thank you and all of the amazing volunteers who give of their time and expertise year-round.
National Volunteer Week is an opportunity to celebrate the impact of volunteer service and the power of volunteers to tackle society’s greatest challenges, to build stronger communities, and to be a force that transforms the world. Especially now, we’re grateful for those who are stepping up and answering the call to serve during this pandemic.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. It’s never been more evident how important volunteers are to our community. Thanks to volunteers, seniors continue to receive a safety check and nutritious meal through Meals on Wheels.
Volunteers are helping to keep local food pantries open and hospital patients are receiving life-saving blood due to American Red Cross donors and blood drive volunteers.
More than 80 local “mask warriors” are sewing with care and delivering homemade, protective masks for essential workers.
In order to move resources quickly and adapt to the evolving needs in our region, United Way’s volunteer Community Impact Council is meeting regularly to review applications and determine funding awards from the COVID-19 Action Fund. For essential nonprofits and those working remotely, volunteers continue to provide board leadership, committee service, and help to raise dollars at a time when the demand for service is high but special events and fundraisers are on hold.
Despite social distancing, there are still ways you can volunteer. We are working with our community partners to identify any volunteer or in-kind material needs they have during this crisis. Those needs are posted on a special COVID-19 section of our volunteer page at LiveUnitedBR.org/volunteer.
A few years ago, United Way Blackhawk Region launched this free website to help match volunteers to opportunities throughout the region. You can view projects, email project coordinators, and sign up as an individual or team all with a few quick clicks of a button. The site will also automatically track your volunteer hours and provide you a transcript showing all your volunteer activity – a great tool for anyone who needs to keep track of service hours.
Any nonprofit, service club, church, municipality or other community group looking for volunteers can create an account to post and manage their volunteer opportunities or material requests.
On behalf of the Blackhawk Region nonprofit community, thank you for volunteering! We look forward to the day when we can get back to normal volunteer activities, but in the meantime we greatly appreciate any help you are able to provide during this time of crisis.
