Ann Arbor is a haven for people who like spending their leisure hours helping those less fortunate, working for their favorite political causes or cleaning up the highway. Numerous volunteer opportunities abound throughout the city, offering residents and students the chance to enrich the community through work done gratis. The Washtenaw United Way's Volunteer Action Center served as a central clearinghouse for nonprofit agencies where city residents could find a place to spend their volunteer hours. However, the center closed earlier this year due to a lack of funding - causing volunteers and nonprofit agencies to lose a valuable resource.
The Ann Arbor Community Foundation recently doled out $16,000 to fund a study of volunteer centers across the state and create a program to supplant the United Way's Center. The grant was part of more than $150,000 given to various community organizations to support volunteerism. The Nonprofit Enterprise at Work took over some of the center's functions after it closed but only "... on the most basic level," as stated by Judith Cawhorn, NEW's director of development. NEW will conduct the study to design a replacement for the center - it should ensure that all volunteers have easy access to agencies that need their help.
Volunteers provide a unique and valuable service. They contribute to the community's well-being while providing themselves with a feeling of satisfaction. With volunteers working in soup kitchens and nursing homes, among other places, they also work to help society deal with many problems. Furthermore, they save taxpayers money by preventing additional government investment in many areas.
The city should support volunteerism as it contributes greatly to the community. Beside offering the city free labor toward community projects, volunteering also promotes a feeling of community. Volunteers feel a strong attachment to their neighborhoods because they invest their time and energy into them. The city should support the creation of a volunteer clearinghouse as it pays the city back in the form of a strong, cohesive community.
University students are known for their volunteerism efforts. A significant portion of the student population regularly spends time helping others out through numerous on- and off-campus programs. A volunteer clearinghouse could provide students with a valuable service to help guide them toward volunteer activities that may interest them. In addition, smaller nonprofit agencies that do not have a sufficient staff or volunteer workforce could utilize such a service to help attract new people to their regiments. Replacing the center is an effective way to help promote volunteerism that contributes greatly to the community.
It behooves the city to support programs that provide it with work done on city problems and a more cohesive community. Volunteerism provides many people with a way to spend their free time while gaining personal satisfaction that they contributed to the good of their community. NEW should create a replacement for the United Way's Center soon to ensure that all potential volunteers have a place to spend their time.
06-04-97
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