Community Guide 2017
Volunteering in the Community by Suzanne Sadowsky
Some of the jobs might be administrative or desk jobs, oth- ers might require physical stamina, and still others might require special skills like maintenance and repairs, or com- puter or design skills, or management or fundraising. Several years ago the San Geronimo Valley Commu- nity Center was awarded a two-year grant from the Marin Community Foundation to support a program to engage senior adults in volunteer activities. As a result, the Center was able to offer many more programs and activities for seniors to become socially engaged in community life and healthy activities, e.g., a book club, mah jongg, ping pong, exercise classes, Growing Old Gracefully peer support group, and a needlework circle. Each of those activities is volunteer led. An outgrowth of the MCF grant was the Telling Our Stories Project : individual seniors were inter- viewed by 8th grade students who recorded the life stories of community members who made contributions to the Valley over their lifetimes. Those stories are available as part of the online version of this Community Guide . While a lot of the volunteer work is done by senior adults, probably because they have more time than the rest of the folks in the Valley, there are also many opportunities for young people to do community service and for parents volunteering for the schools. Volunteers who need to do community service because of minor offences like traffic violations are also welcome at many of our Valley organiza- tions. Volunteers are the life blood of our Valley nonprofits. They could not fulfill their missions without them.
The nonprofit and other community organizations in the Valley and Nicasio offer abundant opportunities for people of all ages to become involved in community life and meaningful activities that support our residents and our environment. Indeed, our communities would not be the beautiful and vital places that they are without the help of volunteers. We would not have excellent schools, access to recreational services, churches and other faith organiza- tions, and protection of our natural environment without the support of the hundreds of volunteers who donate their time and their expertise to the work of these organizations. The community organizations listed in this Community Guide are places where people can volunteer. Anyone who is interested in becoming a volunteer can contact any one of those organizations to explore the ways that they might become involved. Keep in mind that some volunteer jobs require a long-term, ongoing commitment, while others might be short-term or seasonal jobs. Some of the jobs might involve a steady week-to-week job commitment while others might be helping for a short time for a once a year special event. Think about what you are interested in and what you are able to offer. It’s important to consider your availability, your strengths and your capacity to do the jobs that are needed by the organizations that you are interested in helping.
Volunteer Appreciation Day, 1998
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SGVCC
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