Sweet Nursing Home, Chinook Senior Center thank volunteers during National Volunteer Week

 

April 25, 2018

Brent Schellin, right in photo, goes through the lunch line at Sweet Nursing Home during a luncheon for volunteers that serve the care facility. Activities Manager Jeanne Buffington said there was no way the nursing home could maintain its level of activities without the help of so many volunteers. The special lunch was for volunteers during celebration of National Volunteer Week.

National Volunteer Week, always in April, is a time that many charitable groups and organizations recognize and thank their volunteers. Sweet Nursing Home and the Chinook Senior Center thanked their volunteers with special complimentary lunches and kind words of thanks.

Without putting too fine a point on how these calculations were made, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other national groups have compiled some impressive statistics about the number of volunteers in the country and their economic impact on non-profit institutions. Estimates are that nearly 30% of Americans volunteer in some capacity. Those 62 million volunteers log 7.9 billion hours of service. That service has a $184 billion value to groups served.

The Corporation for National and Community Service cited religious organizations with the most volunteers at 34% of all volunteers. Next are educational and youth groups (26%) and then social or community service organizations with 15% of volunteers in America. The most recent value of volunteer time is $24.14 per hour. That's calculated by a complicated formula that takes in the earnings per hour of all volunteers if they were working regular jobs for pay. Montana's hourly value for volunteers is $21.04. Highest in the nation is the Washington, DC area at $39.17 per hour for the value of volunteers.

But there's a value to volunteers other than just the dollar value of their work. In her remarks to about 30 volunteers gathered for lunch at Sweet Nursing Home, Activities Manager Jeanne Buffington said, "We love all the things

you do as volunteers. We couldn't keep our level of activities without volunteers." She noted that volunteers often serve by simply interacting with residents. "The transition to a nursing home," Buffington said, "can be very trying for a resident. Often the friendly face of a volunteer in the band, at worship or simply visiting can make a big difference."

At the volunteer recognition lunch at the Chinook Senior Center Director Norby welcomed the honored volunteers. Then she read a letter composed by the paid staff at the center including herself, the cook and the assistant cook. Before she read the letter Norby said, "I found this quote that I think sums up our feelings about our volunteers: 'The greatest gift you can give is your time.'"

Adam Murphy, right foreground of photo, helps staff at Sweet Nursing Home serve volunteers at a special luncheon celebrating National Volunteer Week. Activities Manager Jeanne Buffington said Murphy, a former employee at the nursing home, "Came back to volunteer to help cook lunch for the volunteers."

She listed tasks the volunteers helped with including meal preparation, serving and delivery. "Volunteers help," she added, "with bingo and Shanghai Rummy, open up the center every morning for coffee at 6am and play every Friday in the kitchen band." She added that other centers along the Hi-Line are really impressed "that we have a band every Friday. None of the others have a regular band."

Professionals who study and write about volunteers point out one other important measure volunteers provide for non-profits. "Independent Sector" is an organization that brings together a diverse set of nonprofits, foundations and corporations to advance the work of volunteer-based groups. They note, "Volunteers provide many intangibles that cannot be easily quantified. They demonstrate the amount of support an organization has within a community." Simply, the level of volunteerism reflects the community's support for the organization.

Our area is blest with a strong cadre of volunteers who help enrich our communities. In churches, community and youth organizations, service associations and professional/trade groups the support of volunteers is well documented and much appreciated. Thank you volunteers and happy National Volunteer Week, 2018.

 
 

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