Thank You Volunteers!
Volunteer Center Celebrates National Volunteer Week

United Way's Volunteer Center has more than a dozen volunteer opportunities available during National Volunteer Week, April 27 to May 3, and beyond.

This event is a national, annual celebration of volunteers and the valuable work they do for non-profits in their communities. National Volunteer Week is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek ways to engage in their community. It's about showing our community that we can meet our challenges not as isolated individuals, but as members of a team with everyone working together. This week allows individuals to be at the center of change and discover their power to make a difference.

  Our community volunteers can join thousands of individuals all across the country and get involved. If you are interested in becoming a community volunteer, call Toya Cobb at the volunteer center at 423.752.0316. You can also call 2-1-1 or visit us online at www.uwchatt.org.

Volunteers are one of America's most important assets. More than 61 million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2005 and September 2006, according to a recent survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That represents more than a quarter of the entire U.S. population. Here in our community, we had more than 5,285 volunteers in 2007 donate 134,742 volunteer hours at a value of $18.77 per hour. That's a total contribution back to our community of a little more than $2.5 million in free labor for area nonprofits.

Volunteering is a viable way to make social and economic impact on our community. For example, volunteers who participate in service-learning, the connection of community service to classroom learning, make the following impact:

• 96 percent of teachers report children learn more through service learning than instruction alone
• 46 percent report improved grades
• 36 percent report decrease in absenteeism 

Area residents can join this movement by calling United Way's 2-1-1 to become involved in a local volunteer project available during National Volunteer Week.You can also purchase tickets to the annual Volunteer Week Awards Dinner on Thursday, May 1, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Brainerd Crossroads. Marcia Kling will host an evening of music as United Way's Volunteer Center, DOVIA (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies), and the Corporate Volunteer Council thank volunteers from nonprofit agencies from around the region and hand out service awards to volunteers who were exemplary in how they gave of themselves to the community. Volunteer of the Year Awards will be given in the following six areas: Youth, Community, Education, Environment, Health and Corporate. Tickets to the banquet are available for $13 per person by calling the Volunteer Center at 423.752.0316.

Members of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga's Corporate Volunteer Council are Anne Holt representing First Tennessee Bank, Lavonda Shipley representing First Horizons Insurance, Kathy Douglas and David Bacastow representing the Chattanooga Gas Company, Leroy Parks representing the AT&T Retirees, Anissa Harrison representing SunTrust Bank, Kathy York representing TVA, Donna Alexander and Nathan Harmon representing UPS Freight, and Dale Jones and Dawn Garoutte representing T-Mobile.

National Volunteer Week began in 1974 when President Richard Nixon signed an executive order establishing an annual celebration of volunteering. Every president since has signed a proclamation promoting the week.